Ed 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 


MY    DIARY 


NORTH     AND     SOUTH. 


BY 

WILLIAM  HOWARD  RUSSELL. 

n 


BOSTON: 
T.     O.     H.     P.     BURNHAM. 

NEW  YORK:  0.  S.  FELT,  36  WALKER  ST. 
1863. 


RIVERSIDE,   CAMBRIDGE: 
STEREOTYPED  AND  PRINTED  BY  H.  0.  HOUGHTON- 


Eft* 

.1 


To 
RICHARD    OBTAIN,   M.  D., 

£f)fs  Volume  fs  3ietrfcateTr 

IN    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  REGARD  AND   GRATITUDE 
OF 

THE  AUTHOR. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


A  BOOK  which  needs  apologies  ought  never  to 
have  been  written.  This  is  a  canon  of  criticism  so 
universally  accepted,  that  authors  have  abstained  of 
late  days  from  attempting  to  disarm  hostility  by  con 
fessions  of  weakness,  and  are  almost  afraid  to  say  a 
prefatory  word  to  the  gentle  reader. 

It  is  not  to  plead  in  mitigation  of  punishment  or 
make  an  appeal  ad  misericordiam,  I  break  through 
the  ordinary  practice,  but  by  way  of  introduction 
and  explanation  to  those  who  may  read  these  vol 
umes,  I  may  remark  that  they  consist  for  the  most 
part  of  extracts  from  the  diaries  and  note-books 
which  I  assiduously  kept  whilst  I  was  in  the 
United  States,  as  records  of  the  events  and  impres 
sions  of  the  hour.  I  have  been  obliged  to  omit 
many  passages  which  might  cause  pain  or  injury 
to  individuals  still  living  in  the  midst  of  a  civil 
war,  but  the  spirit  of  the  original  is  preserved  as 
far  as  possible,  and  I  would  entreat  my  readers  to 
attribute  the  frequent  use  of  the  personal  pronoun 


M317285 


viii  INTRODUCTORY. 

and  personal  references  to  the  nature  of  the  sources 
from  which  the  work  is  derived,  rather  than  to  the 
vanity  of  the  author. 

Had  the  pages  been  literally  transcribed,  without 
omitting  a  word,  the  fate  of  one  whose  task  it  was 
to  sift  the  true  from  the  false  and  to  avoid  error 
in  statements  of  fact,  in  a  country  remarkable  for 
the  extraordinary  fertility  with  which  the  unreal  is 
produced,  would  have  excited  some  commiseration ; 
but  though  there  is  much  extenuated  in  these 
pages,  there  is  not,  I  believe,  aught  set  down  in 
malice.  My  aim  has  been  to  retain  so  much  re 
lating  to  events  passing  under  my  eyes,  or  to 
persons  who  have  become  famous  in  this  great 
struggle,  as  may  prove  interesting  at  present,  though 
they  did  not  at  the  time  always  appear  in  their 
just  proportions  of  littleness  or  magnitude. 

During  my  sojourn  in  the  States,  many  stars  of 
the  first  order  have  risen  out  of  space  or  fallen  into 
the  outer,  darkness.  The  watching,  trustful,  millions 
have  hailed  with  delight  or  witnessed  with  terror 
the  advent  of  a  shining  planet  or  a  splendid  comet, 
which  a  little  observation  has  resolved  into  watery 
nebulae.  In  the  Southern  hemisphere,  Bragg  and 
Beauregard  have  given  place  to  Lee  and  Jackson. 
In  the  North,  McDowell  has  faded  away  before 


INTRODUCTORY.  ix 

McClellan,  who  having  been  put  for  a  short  season 
in  eclipse  by  Pope,  only  to  culminate  with  in 
creased  effulgence,  has  finally  paled  away  before 
Burnside.  The  heroes  of  yesterday  are  the  martyrs 
or  outcasts  of  to-day,  and  no  American  general 
needs  a  slave  behind  him  in  the  triumphal  chariot 
to  remind  him  that  he  is  a  mortal.  Had  I  foreseen 
such  rapid  whirls  in  the  wheel  of  fortune  I  might 
have  taken  more  note  of  the  men  who  were  be 
low,  but  my  business  was  not  to  speculate  but  to 
describe. 

The  day  I  landed  at  Norfolk,  a  tall  lean  man, 
ill-dressed,  in  a  slouching  hat  and  wrinkled  clothes, 
stood,  with  his  arms  folded  and  legs  wide  apart, 
against  the  wall  of  the  hotel  looking  on  the  ground. 
One  of  the  waiters  told  me  it  was  "  Professor 
Jackson,"  and  I  have  been  plagued  by  suspicions 
that  in  refusing  an  introduction  which  was  offered 
to  me,  I  missed  an  opportunity  of  making  the  ac 
quaintance  of  the  man  of  the  stonewalls  of  Win 
chester.  But,  on  the  whole,  I  have  been  fortunate 
in  meeting  many  of  the  soldiers  and  statesmen  who 
have  distinguished  themselves  in  this  unhappy  war. 

Although  I  have  never  for  one  moment  seen  rea 
son  to  change  the  opinion  I  expressed  in  the  first 
letter  I  wrote  from  the  States,  that  the  Union  as 


X  INTRODUCTORY. 

it  was  could  never  be  restored,  I  am  satisfied  the 
Free  States  of  the  North  will  retain  and  gain  great 
advantages  by  the  struggle,  if  they  will  only  set 
themselves  at  work  to  accomplish  their  destiny,  nor 
lose  their  time  in  sighing  over  vanished  empire 
or  indulging  in  abortive  dreams  of  conquest  and 
schemes  of  vengeance  ;  but  my  readers  need  not 
expect  from  me  any  dissertations  on  the  present  or 
future  of  the  great  republics,  which  have  been  so 
loosely  united  by  the  Federal  band,  nor  any  de 
scription  of  the  political  system,  social  life,  manners 
or  customs  of  the  people,  beyond  those  which  may 
be  incidentally  gathered  from  these  pages. 

It  has  been  my  fate  to  see  Americans  under 
their  most  unfavorable  aspect ;  with  all  their  na 
tional  feelings,  as  well  as  the  vices  of  our  common 
humanity,  exaggerated  and  developed  by  the  terri 
ble  agonies  of  a  civil  war,  and  the  throes  of  po 
litical  revolution.  Instead  of  the  hum  of  industry, 
I  heard  the  noise  of  cannon  through  the  land.  So 
ciety  convulsed  by  cruel  passions  and  apprehensions, 
and  shattered  by  violence,  presented  its  broken  an 
gles  to  the  stranger,  and  I  can  readily  conceive 
that  the  America  I  saw,  was  no  more  like  the 
country  of  which  her  people  boast  so  loudly,  than 
the  St.  Lawrence  when  the  ice  breaks  up,  hurrying 


INTRODUCTORY.  xi 

onwards  the  rugged  drift  and  its  snowy  crust  of 
crags,  with  hoarse  roar,  and  crashing  with  irresist 
ible  force  and  fury  to  the  sea,  resembles  the  calm 
flow  of  the  stately  river  on  a  summer's  day. 

The  swarming  communities  and  happy  homes  of 
the  New  England  States  —  the  most  complete  ex 
hibition  of  the  best  results  of  the  American  system 
—  it  was  denied  me  to  witness  ;  but  if  I  was  de 
prived  of  the  gratification  of  worshipping  the  frigid 
intellectualism  of  Boston,  I  saw  the  effects  in  the 
field,  among  the  men  I  met,  of  the  teachings  and 
theories  of  the  political,  moral,  and  religious  profes 
sors,  who  are  the  chiefs  of  that  universal  Yankee 
nation,  as  they  delight  to  call  themselves,  and  there 
recognized  the  radical  differences  which  must  sever 
them  forever  from  a  true  union  with  the  Southern 
States. 

The  contest,  of  which  no  man  can  predict  the 
end  or  result,  still  rages,  but  notwithstanding  the 
darkness  and  clouds  which  rest  upon  the  scene,  I 
place  so  much  reliance  on  the  innate  good  qualities 
of  the  great  nations  which  are  settled  on  the  Con 
tinent  of  North  America,  as  to  believe  they  will  be 
all  the  better  for  the  sweet  uses  of  adversity;  learn 
ing  to  live  in  peace  with  their  neighbors,  adapting 
their  institutions  to  their  necessities,  and  working 


xii  INTRODUCTORY. 

out,  not  in  their  old  arrogance  and  insolence  — 
mistaking  material  prosperity  for  good  government 
—  but  in  fear  and  trembling,  the  experiment  on 
which  they  have  cast  so  much  discredit,  and  the 
glorious  career  which  misfortune  and  folly  can 
arrest  but  for  a  time. 

W.   H.   RUSSELL. 

London,  December  8,  1862. 


CONTENTS. 


.    CHAPTER   I. 

PAGE 

Departure  from  Cork  —  The  Atlantic  in  March  —  Fellow  passen 
gers  —  American  politics  and  parties  —  The  Irish  in  New 
York  —  Approach  to  New  York 1 


CHAPTER  II. 

Arrival  at  New  York  —  Custom  house  —  General  impressions 
as  to  North  and  South  —  Street  in  New  York  —  Hotel  — 
Breakfast  —  American  women  and  men  —  Visit  to  Mr.  Ban 
croft  —  Street  railways 7 

CHAPTER  III. 

"St.  Patrick's  day"  in  New  York  —  Public  dinner  —  American 
Constitution  —  General  topics  of  conversation  —  Public  estimate 
of  the  Government  —  Evening  party  at  Mons.  B 's  .  15 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Streets  and  shops  in  New  York  —  Literature —  A  funeral —  Din 
ner  at  Mr.  H 's  —  Dinner  at  Mr.  Bancroft's  —  Political 

and  social  features  —  Literary  breakfast ;  Heenan  and  Sayers  .    24 


CHAPTER   V. 

Off  to  the  railway  station  —  Railway  carriages  —  Philadelphia  — 
Washington  —  Willard's  Hotel  —  Mr.  Seward  —  North  and 
South  —  The  "  State  Department  "  at  Washington  —  President 
Lincoln  —  Dinner  at  Mr.  Seward's  .  .30 


CHAPTER   VI. 

A  state  dinner  at  Mr.  Abraham  Lincoln's  — Mrs.  Lincoln  —  The 
Cabinet  Ministers  —  A  newspaper  correspondent —  Good  Friday 
at  Washington 41 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

PAGE 

Barbers'  shops  —  Place-hunting  —  The  Navy  Yard  —  Dinner  at 
Lord  Lyons' — Estimate  of  Washington  among  his  country 
men —  Washington's  house  and  tomb  —  The  Southern  Com 
missioners  —  Dinner  with  the  Southern  Commissioners  — 
Feeling  towards  England  among  the  Southerners — Animos 
ity  between  North  and  South 50 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

New  York  Press  —  Rumors  as  to  the  Southerners  —  Visit  to  the 
Smithsonian  Institute  —  Pythons  —  Evening  at  Mr.  Seward's 
—  Rough  draft  of  official  despatch  to  Lord  J.  Russell — Esti 
mate  of  its  effect  in  Europe  —  The  attitude  of  Virginia  .  .  68 

CHAPTER   IX. 

Dinner  at  General  Scott's  —  Anecdotes  of  General  Scott's  early 
life  —  The  startling  despatch  —  Insecurity  of  the  capital  .  .  72 

CHAPTER  X. 

Preparations  for  Avar  at  Charleston  —  My  own  departure  for  the 
Southern  States  —  Arrival  at  Baltimore  —  Commencement  of 
hostilities  at  Fort  Sumter  —  Bombardment  of  the  fort  —  Gen 
eral  feeling  as  to  North  and  South —  Slavery  — First  Impres 
sions  of  the  city  of  Baltimore —  Departure  by  steamer  .  .  76 

CHAPTER   XI. 

Scenes  on  board  an  American  steamer  —  The  "Merrimac" — 
Irish  sailors  in  America  —  Norfolk  —  A  telegram  on  Sunday.; 
news  from  the  seat  of  war  —  American  "chaff"  and  our  Jack 
Tars «...  .80 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Portsmouth  —  Railway  journey  through  the  forest — The  great 
Dismal  Swamp  —  American  newspapers  —  Cattle  on  the  line 
—  Negro  labor  —  On  through  the  Pine  Forest  —  The  Confede 
rate  flag  —  Goldsborough ;  popular  excitement  —  Weldon  — 
Wilmington — The  Vigilance  Committee  :'--»H  .  .  .87 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

Sketches  round  Wilmington  —  Public  opinion  —  Approach  to 
Charleston  and  Fort  Sumter  —  Introduction  to  General  Beaure- 
gard — Ex-Governor  Manning  —  Conversation  on  the  chances 
of  the  war  —  "  King  Cotton  "  and  England  —  Visit  to  Fort 
Sumter  — Market-place  at  Charleston  .  .  .  .  ~  .  95 


CONTENTS.  xv 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

PAdS 

Southern  volunteers  —  Unpopularity  of  the  Press  —  Charleston 

—  Fort    Sumter  —  Morris'  Island — Anti-union  enthusiasm  — 
Anecdote  of  Colonel  Wigfall  —  Interior  view  of  the  fort  —  North 
versus  South 101 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Slaves,  their  Masters  and  Mistresses —  Hotels  —  Attempted  boat- 
journey  to  Fort  Moultrie —  Excitement  at  Charleston  against 
New  York  —  Preparations  for  war  —  General  Beauregard  — 
Southern  opinion  as  to  the  policy  of  the  North,  and  estimate  of 
the  effect  of  the  war  on  England,  through  the  cotton  market  — 
Aristocratic  feeling  in  the  South 112 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Charleston  :  the  Market-place  —  Irishmen  at  Charleston  —  Gov 
ernor  Pickens  :  his  political  economy  and  theories  —  News 
paper  offices  and  counting-houses  —  Rumors  as  to  the  war 
policy  of  the  South 120 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Visit  to  a  plantation ;  hospitable  reception  —  By  steamer  to 
Georgetown  —  Description  of  the  town  —  A  country  mansion 

—  Masters  and  slaves  —  Slave  diet  —  Humming-birds  —  Land 
irrigation  —  Negro  quarters  —  Back  to  Georgetown  .        .        .125 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Climate  of  the  Southern  States  —  General  Beauregard  —  Risks  of 
the  post-office  —  Hatred  of  New  England  —  By  railway  to  Sea 
Island  plantation  —  Sporting  in  South  Carolina  —  An  hour  on 
board  a  canoe  in  the  dark 135 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Domestic  negroes  —  Negro  oarsmen  —  Off  to  the  fishing-grounds 

—  The  devil-fish  —  Bad  sport  —  The  drum-fish  —  Negro  quar 
ters  —  Want  of  drainage  —  Thievish  propensities  of  the  blacks 

—  A  Southern  estimate  of  Southerners 141 


CHAPTER  XX. 

By  railway  to  Savannah  —  Description  of  the  city — Rumors  of 
the  last  few  days  —  State  of  affairs  at  Washington  —  Prepara 
tions  for  war — Cemetery  of  Bonaventure  —  Road  made  of 
oyster-shells  —  Appropriate  features  of  the  cemetery  —  The 
Tatnall  family  —  Dinner-party  at  Mr.  Green's  —  Feeling  in 
Georgia  against  the  North 149 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

PAGE 

The  river  at  Savannah  —  Commodore  Tatnall  —  Fort  Pulaski  — 
Want  of  a  fleet  to  the  Southerners  —  Strong  feeling  of  the 
women  —  Slavery  considered  in  its  results  —  Cotton  and  Geor 
gia —  Off  for  Montgomery — The  Bishop  of  Georgia  —  The 
Bible  and  Slavery — Macon  —  Dislike  of  United  States  gold  155 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Slave-pens  ;  Negroes  on  sale  or  hire  —  Popular  feeling  as  to  Se 
cession —  Beauregard  and  speech-making  —  Arrival  at  Mont 
gomery —  Bad  hotel  accommodation — Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle  —  Reflections  on  Slavery  —  Slave  auction  —  The  Legis 
lative  Assembly  —  A  "  live  chattel "  knocked  down  —  Rumors 
from  the  North  (true  and  false)  and  prospects  of  war  .  .  162 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Proclamation  of  war  —  Jefferson  Davis  —  Interview  with  the 
President  of  the  Confederacy  —  Passport  and  safe-conduct  — 
Messrs.  Wigfall,  Walker,  and  Benjamin  —  Privateering  and 
letters  of  marque  —  A  reception  at  Jefferson  Davis's  —  Dinner 
at  Mr.  Benjamin's 172 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Mr.  Wigfall  on  the  Confederacy  —  Intended  departure  from  the 
South — Northern  apathy  and  Southern  activity  —  Future 
prospects  of  the  Union — South  Carolina  and  cotton  —  The 
theory  of  slavery  —  Indifference  at  New  York — Departure 
from  Montgomery 179 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

The  River  Alabama  —  Voyage  by  steamer  —  Selma  —  Our  cap 
tain  and  his  slaves  —  "  Running  "  slaves  —  Negro  views  of  hap 
piness  —  Mobile  —  Hotel  —  The  city  —  Mr.  Forsyth  .  '.  184 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Visit  to  Forts  Gaines  and  Morgan  —  War  to  the  knife  the  cry  of 
the  South  —  The  "  State  "  and  the  "  States  "—Bay  of  Mobile 
—  The  forts  and  their  inmates  —  Opinions  as  to  an  attack  on 
Washington  —  Rumors  of  actual  war 192 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Pensacola  and  Fort  Pickens  — Neutrals  and  their  friends  —  Coast 
ing  —  Sharks  —  The  blockading  fleet  —  The  stars  and  stripes, 
and  stars  and  bars  —  Domestic  feuds  caused  by  the  war  — 
Captain  Adams  and  General  Bragg  —  Interior  of  Fort  Pickens  197 


CONTENTS.  xvii 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

PAGE 

Bitters  before  breakfast  —  An  old  Crimean  acquaintance  —  Earth 
works  and  batteries  — Estimate  of  cannons  —  Magazines  —  Hos 
pitality  —  English  and  American  introductions  and  leave-tak 
ings  —  Fort  Pickens  :  its  interior  —  Return  towards  Mobile  — 
Pursued  by  a  strange  sail  —  Running  the  blockade  —  Landing 
at  Mobile 210 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Judge  Campbell  —  Dr.  Nott  —  Slavery  —  Departure  for  New  Or 
leans —  Down  the  river  —  Fear  of  cruisers  —  Approach  to 
New  Orleans  —  Duelling  —  Streets  of  New  Orleans  —  Un- 
healthiness  of  the  city  —  Public  opinion  as  to  the  war  —  Happy 
and  contented  negroes 225 

CHAPTER   XXX. 

The  first  blow  struck  —  The  St.  Charles  Hotel  —  Invasion  of  Vir 
ginia  by  the  Federals — Death  of  Col.  Ellsworth — Evening 
at  Mr.  Slidell's —  Public  comments  on  the  war  —  Richmond 
the  capital  of  the  Confederacy  —  Military  preparations  —  Gen 
eral  society  — Jewish  element —Visit  to  a  battle-field  of  1815  .  234 

CHAPTER   XXXI. 

Carrying  arms  —  New  Orleans  jail  —  Desperate  characters  — 
Executions — Female  maniacs  and  prisoners  —  The  river  and 
levee  —  Climate  of  New  Orleans  —  Population — General  dis 
tress  —  Pressure  of  the  blockade  —  Money  —  Philosophy  of 
abstract  rights  —  The  doctrine  of  State  Rights  —  Theoretical 
defect  in  the  Constitution 244 

CHAPTER   XXXII. 

Up  the  Mississippi  —  Free  negroes  and  English  policy  —  Mo 
notony  of  the  river  scenery  —  Visit  to  M.  Roman  —  Slave 
quarters  —  A  slave-dance  —  Slave-children  —  Negro  hospital  — 
General  opinion  —  Confidence  in  Jefferson  Davis  .  .  .  253 

CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

Ride  through  the  maize-fields  —  Sugar  plantation  :  negroes  at 
work  —  Use  of  the  lash  —  Feeling  towards  France  —  Silence  of 
the  country  —  Negroes  and  dogs  —  Theory  of  slavery  —  Phys 
ical  formation  of  the  negro  —  The  defence  of  slavery  —  The 
masses  for  negro  souls  —  Convent  of  the  Sacre  Coeur  —  Ferry 
house  —  A  large  land-owner  .  .  .  ..._~.  .  .  261 

CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

Negroes  —  Sugar-cane  plantations  —  The  negro  and  cheap  labor 
—  Mortality  of  blacks  and  whites  —  Irish  labor  in  Louisiana  — 
A  sugar-house  —  Negro  children  —  Want  of  education  —  Negro 
diet  —  Negro  hospital  —  Spirits  in  the  morning  —  Breakfast  — 
More  slaves  —  Creole  planters 270 


xvin  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

PAGE 

War-rumors,  and  military  movements  —  Governor  Manning's 
slave  plantations  —  Fortunes  made  by  slave-labor  —  Frogs  for 
the  table  —  The  forest  —  Cotton  and  sugar  —  A  thunder-storm  280 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

Visit  to  Mr.  M'CalPs  plantation  —  Irish  and  Spaniards  —  The 
planter  —  A  Southern  sporting  man  —  The  Creoles  —  Leave 
Houmas  —  Donaldson ville  —  Description  of  the  City  —  Baton 
Rouge  —  Steamer  to  Natchez  —  Southern  feeling  ;  faith  in  Jef 
ferson  Davis  —  Rise  and  progress  of  prosperity  for  the  plant 
ers  —  Ultimate  issue  of  the  war  to  both  North  and  South  .  .  284 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Down  the  Mississippi  —  Hotel  at  Vicksburg  —  Dinner  —  Public 
meeting  —  News   of  the  progress   of  the  war  —  Slavery  an< 
England  —  Jackson  —  Governor  Pettus  —  Insecurity  of  life  - 
Strong  Southern  enthusiasm  —  Troops  bound  for  the  North  — 
Approach  to  Memphis  —  Slaves  for  sale  —  Memphis  —  General 
Pillow 295 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Camp  Randolph  —  Cannon  practice  —  Volunteers  —  "  Dixie  " — 
Forced  return  from  the  South  —  Apathy  of  the  North  —  Gen 
eral  retrospect  of  politics  —  Energy  and  earnestness  of  the 
South  —  Fire-arms  —  Position  of  Great  Britain  towards  the  bel 
ligerents  —  Feeling  towards  the  Old  Country  ....  309 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

Heavy  Bill  —  Railway  travelling  —  Introductions  —  Assassina 
tions  —  Tennessee  —  "  Corinth  " —  "  Tory  "  —  "  Humbolt "  — 
"  The  Confederate  Camp  "  —  Return  Northwards  —  Columbus 
—  Cairo — The  Slavery  Question  —  Prospects  of  the  War  — 
Coarse  journalism  .  .  .  :  ."•  •  v"'  ."  " ';  V'v  .  322 

CHAPTER  XL. 

Camp  at  Cairo  —  The  North  and  the  South  in  respect  to  Eu 
rope  —  Political  reflections  —  Mr.  Colonel  Oglesby  —  My 
speech  —  Northern  and  Southern  soldiers  compared  —  Amer 
ican  country-walks  —  Recklessness  of  life  —  Want  of  cavalry 
Emeute  in  the  camp  —  Defects  of  army  medical  department  — 
Horrors  of  war  —  Bad  discipline 337 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

Impending  battle  —  By  railway  to  Chicago  —  Northern  enlighten 
ment  —  Mound  City  —  "  Cotton  is  King  "  —  Land  in  the 
States  —  Dead  level  of  American  society  —  Return  into  the 
Union  —  American  homes  —  Across  the  Prairie  —  White  labor 
ers  —  New  pillager  —  Lake  Michigan 346 


CONTENTS.  xix 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

PAQB 

Progress  of  events  —  Policy  of  Great  Britain  as  regarded  by  the 
North  —  The  American  press  and  its  comments  —  Privacy  a 
luxury  —  Chicago  —  Senator  Douglas  and  his  widow  —  Amer 
ican  ingratitude  —  Apathy  in  volunteering  —  Colonel  Tur- 
chin's  camp 354 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 

Niagara  —  Impression  of  the  Falls — Battle  scenes  in  the  neigh 
borhood  —  A  village  of  Indians  —  General  Scott  —  Hostile 
movements  on  both  sides  —  The  Hudson  —  Military  school 
at  West  Point — Return  to  New  York — Altered  appearance 
of  the  city  —  Misery  and  suffering — Altered  state  of  public 
opinion,  as  to  the  Union  and  towards  Great  Britain  .  .  .  360 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

Departure  for  Washington  —  A  "  servant "  —  The  American 
Press  on  the  War — Military  aspect  of  the  States  —  Philadel 
phia  —  Baltimore  —  Washington  —  Lord  Lyons  —  Mr.  Sumner 
—  Irritation  against  Great  Britain  —  "  Independence  "  day  — 
Meeting  of  Congress  —  General  state  of  affairs  ....  373 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

Interview  with  Mr.  Seward  —  My  passport  —  Mr.  Seward's  views 
as  to  the  war  —  Illumination  at  Washington  —  My  "  servant  " 
absents  himself — New  York  journalism  —  The  Capitol  —  Inte 
rior  of  Congress  —  The  President's  Message  —  Speeches  in 
Congress  — Lord  Lyons  —  General  McDowell  — Low  standard 
in  the  army  —  Accident  to  the  "  Stars  and  Stripes  "  —  A  street 
row  — Mr.  Bigelow  — Mr.  N.  P.  Willis 380 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 

Arlington  Heights  and  the  Potomac  —  Washington  —  The  Fed 
eral  camp  —  General  McDowell  —  Flying  rumors  —  Newspaper 
correspondents  —  General  Fremont  —  Silencing  the  Press  and 
Telegraph  —  A  Loan  Bill  —  Interview  with  Mr.  Cameron  — 
Newspaper  criticism  on  Lord  Lyons  —  Rumors  about  McClel- 
lan  —  The  Northern  army  as  reported  and  as  it  is  —  General 
McClellan 393 

CHAPTER  XLVIL 

Fortress  Monroe  —  General  Butler  —  Hospital  accommodation  — 
Wounded  soldiers  —  Aristocratic  pedigrees  —  A  great  gun  — 
Newport  News  —  Fraudulent  contractors  —  General  Butler  — 
Artillery  practice  —  Contraband  negroes  —  Confederate  lines  — 
Tombs  of  American  loyalists  —  Troops  and  contractors  —  Du- 
ryea's  New  York  Zouaves  —  Military  calculations  —  A  voyage 
by  steamer  to  Annapolis 405 


xx  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

PAGE 

The  "State  House"  at  Annapolis — Washington  —  General  Scott's 
quarters  —  Want  of  a  staff —  Rival  camps  —  Demand  for  horses 
—  Popular  excitement  —  Lord  Lyons  —  General  McDowell's 
movements  —  Retreat  from  Fairfax  Court  House  —  General 
Scott's  quarters  —  General  Mansfield  —  Battle  of  Bull  Run  .  423 

CHAPTER   XLIX. 

Skirmish  at  Bull's  Run  —  The  Crisis  in  Congress — Dearth  of 
horses  —  War  Prices  at  Washington  —  Estimate  of  the  effects 
of  Bull  Run  —  Password  and  Countersign — Transatlantic  View 
of  "  The  Times  "  —  Difficulties  of  a  Newspaper  Correspond 
ent  in  the  Field 43i 

CHAPTER  L. 

To  the  scene  of  action  —  The  Confederate  camp  —  Centreville  — 
Action  at  Bull  Run — Defeat  of  the  Federals  —  Disorderly  re 
treat  to  Centreville  —  My  ride  back  to  Washington  .  .  .  442 

CHAPTER  LI. 

A  runaway  crowd  at  Washington  —  The  army  of  the  Potomac 
in  retreat —  Mail-day —  Want  of  order  and  authority  —  News 
paper  lies  —  Alarm  at  AVashington  —  Confederate  prisoners  — 
General  McClellan  —  M.  Mercier  —  Effects  of  the  defeat  on 
Mr.  Seward  and  the  President  —  McDowell  —  General  Patter 
son  ............  467 

CHAPTER  LII. 

Attack  of  illness  —  General  McClellan  —  Reception  at  the  White 
House  —  Drunkenness  among  the  Volunteers  —  Visit  from  Mr. 
Olmsted  —  Georgetown  —  Intense  heat  —  McClellan  and  the 
Newspapers  —  Reception  at  Mr.  Seward's  —  Alexandria  —  A 
Storm  —  Sudden  Death  of  an  English  Officer  — The  Maryland 
Club  —  A  Prayer  and  Fast  Day  —  Financial  Difficulties  .  .  479 


CHAPTER  LIU. 

Return  to  Baltimore —  Colonel  Carroll  —  A  Priest's  view  of  the 
Abolition  of  Slavery  —  Slavery  in  Maryland  —  Harper's  Ferry 

—  John  Brown  —  Back  by  train  to  Washington  —  Further  ac 
counts  of  Bull   Run — American  Vanity — My   own  unpopu 
larity  for  speaking  the  truth  —  Killing  a  "  Nigger  "  no  murder 

—  Navy  Department 491 

CHAPTER  LIV. 

A  tour  of  inspection  round  the  camp — A  troublesome  horse 

—  McDowell  and  the   President  —  My  opinion   of  Bull   Run 


CONTENTS.  xxi 

PAGE 

indorsed  by  American  officers  —  Influence  of  the  Press  — 
Newspaper  correspondents  —  Dr.  Bray  — My  letters  —  Captain 
Meagher  —  Military  adventures  —  Probable  duration  of  the 
war — Lord  A.  Vane  Tempest — The  American  journalist  — 
Threats  of  assassination .  505 

CHAPTER  LV. 

Personal  unpopularity  —  American  naval  officers  — A  gun  levelled 
at  me  in  fun  —  Increase  of  odium  against  me  —  Success  of  the 
Hatteras  expedition — General  Scott  and  McClellan  —  McClel- 
lan  on  his  camp-bed —  General  Scott's  pass  refused  —  Prospect 
of  an  attack  on  Washington  —  Skirmishing  —  Anonymous  let 
ters  —  General  Halleck  —  General  McClellan  and  the  Sabbath 

—  Rumored  death  of  Jefferson  Davis  —  Spread  of  my  unpop 
ularity  —  An  offer  for  my  horse  —  Dinner  at  the  Legation  — 
Discussion  on  Slavery 516 

CHAPTER  LVI. 

A  Crimean  acquaintance  —  Personal  abuse  of  myself —  Close  fir 
ing  —  A  reconnoissance  —  Major-General  Bell  —  The  Prince  de 
Joinville  and  his  nephews  —  American  estimate  of  Louis  Napo 
leon  —  Arrest  of  members  of  the  Maryland  Legislature  —  Life 
at  Washington  —  War  cries  —  News  from  the  Far  West  — 
Journey  to  the  Western  States  —  Along  the  Susquehannah  and 
Juniata  —  Chicago —  Sport  in  the  prairie  —  Arrested  for  shoot 
ing  on  Sunday  —  The  town  of  D wight  —  Return  to  Washing 
ton —  Mr.  Seward  and  myself 531 

CHAPTER  LVII. 

Another  Crimean  acquaintance  —  Summary  dismissal  of  a  news 
paper  correspondent  —  Dinner  at  Lord  Lyons'  —  Review  of 
artillery  —  "  Habeas  Corpus  "  —  The  President's  duties  — Mc- 
Clellan's  policy  —  The  Union  army  —  Soldiers  and  the  patrol 

—  Public  men  in  America  —  Mr.  Seward  and  Lord  Lyons  — 
A  judge  placed  under  arrest  —  Death  and  funeral  of  Senator 
Baker  —  Disorderly  troops  and  officers  —  Official  fibs  —  Duck- 
shooting  at  Baltimore 543 

CHAPTER   LVIII. 

General  Scott's  resignation — Mrs.  A.  Lincoln  —  Unofficial  mis 
sion  to  Europe  —  Uneasy  feeling  with  regard  to  France  —  Ball 
given  by  the  United  States  cavalry  —  The  United  States  army 

—  Success  at  Beaufort  —  Arrests  —  Dinner  at  Mr.  Seward's  — 
News  of  Captain  Wilkes  and  the  Trent  —  Messrs.  Mason  and 
Slidell  — Discussion  as  to  Wilkes  —  Prince  de  Joinville  —  The 
American  press  on  the  Trent  affair  —  Absence  of  thieves  in 
Washington  —  "  Thanksgiving  Day  "  —  Success  thus  far  in  fa 
vor  of  the  North  .  5GG 


xxu  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  LIX. 

PAGE 

A  captain  under  arrest  —  Opening  of  Congress  —  Colonel  D'Utas- 
sy  —  An  ex-pugilist  turned  senator  —  Mr.  Cameron  —  Ball  in 
the  officers'  huts  —  Presentation  of  standards  at  Arlington  — 
Dinner  at  Lord  Lyons'  —  Paper  Currency — A  polyglot  dinner 

—  Visit  to  Washington's  tomb  —  Mr.  Chase's  report  —  Colonel 
Seaton  —  Unanimity  of  the  South  —  The  Potomac  blockade  — 
A   Dutch-American    Crimean   acquaintance  —  The   American 
lawyers  on  the  Trent  affair  —  Mr.  Sumner  —  McClellan's  army 

—  Impressions  produced  in  America  by  the  English  press  on 
the  affair  of  the  Trent  —  Mr.  Sumner  on  the  crisis  —  Mutual 
feelings  between  the  two  nations  —  Rumors  of  war  with  Great 
Britain  .  579 


CHAPTER  LX. 

News  of  the  death  of  the  Prince  Consort  —  Mr.  Sumner  and  the 
Trent  affair  —  Despatch  to  Lord  Russell  —  The  Southern  Com 
missioners  given  up  —  Effects  on  the  friends  of  the  South 
—  My  own  unpopularity  at  New  York  —  Attack  of  fever  — 
My  tour  in  Canada —  My  return  to  New  York  in  February  — 
Successes  of  the  Western  States  —  Mr.  Stanton  succeeds  Mr. 
Cameron  as  Secretary  of  War  —  Reverse  and  retreat  of  Mc- 
Clellan  —  My  free  pass  —  The  Merrimac  and  Monitor  —  My 
arrangement  to  accompany  McClellan's  head-quarters  — Mr. 
Stanton  refuses  his  sanction  —  National  vanity  wounded  by  my 
truthfulness  —  My  retirement  and  my  return  to  Europe  .  .591 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Departure  from  Cork  —  The  Atlantic  in  March  —  Fellow  passengers  — 
American  politics  and  parties  —  The  Irish  in  New  York  —  Ap 
proach  to  New  York. 

Ox  the  evening  of  3d  March,  1861, 1  was  transferred  from 
the  little  steam-tender,  which  plies  between  Cork  and  the  an 
chorage  of  the  Cunard  steamers  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbor, 
to  the  deck  of  the  good  steamship  Arabia,  Captain  Stone ;  and 
at  nightfall  we  were  breasting  the  long  rolling  waves  of  the 
Atlantic. 

The  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  has  been  done  by  so  many 
able  hands,  that  it  would  be  superfluous  to  describe  mine, 
though  it  is  certain  no  one  passage  ever  resembled  another, 
and  no  crew  or  set  of  passengers  in  one  ship  were  ever  iden 
tical  with  those  in  any  other.  For  thirteen  days  the  Atlantic 
followed  its  usual  course  in  the  month  of  March,  and  was  true 
to  the  traditions  which  affix  to  it  in  that  month  the  character 
of  violence  and  moody  changes,  from  bad  to  worse  and  back 
again.  The  wind  was  sometimes  dead  against  us,  and  then 
the  infelix  Arabia  with  iron  energy  set  to  work,  storming 
great  Malakhofs  of  water,  which  rose  above  her  like  the  side 
of  some  sward-coated  hill  crested  with  snow-drifts ;  and  hav 
ing  gained  the  summit,  and  settled  for  an  instant  among  the 
hissing  sea-horses,  ran  plunging  headlong  down  to  the  en 
counter  of  another  wave,  and  thus  went  battling  on  with  heart 
of  fire  and  breath  of  flame  —  igneus  est  ollis  vigor  —  hour 
after  hour. 

The  traveller  for  pleasure  had  better  avoid  the  Atlantic  in 

the  month  of  March.     The  wind  was  sometimes  with  us,  and 

then  the  sensations  of  the  passengers  and  the  conduct  of  the 

ship  were  pretty  much  as  they  had  been  during  the  adverse 

1 


2  MY   DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

breezes  before,  varied  by  the  performance  of  a  very  violent 
"  yawing  "  from  side  to  side,  and  certain  squashings  of  the 
paddle-boxes  into  the  yeasty  waters,  which  now  ran  a  race 
with  us  and  each  other,  as  if  bent  on  chasing  us  down,  and 
rolling  their  boarding  parties  with  foaming  crests  down  on  our 
decks.  The  boss,  which  we  represented  in  the  stormy  shield 
around  us,  still  moved  on  ;  day  by  day  our  microcosm  shifted 
its  position  in  the  ever-advancing  circle  of  which  it  was  the 
centre,  with  all  around  and  within  it  ever  undergoing  a  sea 
change. 

The  Americans  on  board  were,  of  course,  the  most  interest 
ing  passengers  to  one  like  myself,  who  was  going  out  to  visit 
the  great  Republic  under  very  peculiar  circumstances.  There 
was,  first,  Major  Garnett,  a  Virginian,  who  was  going  back 
to  his  State  to  follow  her  fortunes.  He  was  an  officer  of  the 
regular  army  of  the  United  States,  who  had  served  with  dis 
tinction  in  Mexico  ;  an  accomplished,  well-read  man  ;  reserved, 
and  rather  gloomy  ;  full  of  the  doctrine  of  States'  Rights,  and 
animated  with  a  considerable  feeling  of  contempt  for  the  New 
Englanders,  and  with  the  strongest  prejudices  in  favor  of  the 
institution  of  slavery.  He  laughed  to  scorn  the  doctrine  that 
all  men  are  born  equal  in  the  sense  of  all  men  having  equal 
rights.  Some  were  born  to  be  slaves  —  some  to  be  laborers 
in  the  lower  strata  above  the  slaves  —  others  to  follow  useful 
mechanical  arts  —  the  rest  were  born  to  rule  and  to  own  their 
fellow-men.  There  was  next  a  young  Carolinian,  who  had 
left  his  post  as  attache  at  St.  Petersburg!!  to  return  to  his 
State:  thus,  in  all  probability,  avoiding  the  inevitable  super 
session  which  awaited  him  at  the  hands  of  the  new  Govern 
ment  at  Washington.  He  represented,  in  an  intensified  form, 
all  the  Virginian's  opinions,  and  held  that  Mr.  Calhoun's  in 
terpretation  of  the  Constitution  was  incontrovertibly  right. 
There  were  difficulties  in  the  way  of  State  sovereignty,  he 
confessed;  but  they  were  only  in  detail  —  the  principle  was 
unassailable. 

To  Mr.  Mitchell,  South  Carolina  represented  a  power  quite 
sufficient  to  meet  all  the  Northern  States  in  arms.  "  The 
North  will  attempt  to  blockade  our  coast,"  said  he  ;  "  and  in 
that  case,  the  South  must  march  to  the  attack  by  land,  and 
will  probably  act  in  Virginia."  "  But  if  the  North  attempts 
to  do  more  than  institute  a  blockade  ?  —  for  instance,  if  their 
fleet  attack  your  seaport  towns,  and  land  men  to  occupy 
them  ?  "  "  Oh,  in  that  case  we  are  quite  certain  of  beating 


PASSENGERS.  —  AMERICAN  POLITICS.  3 

them."  Mr.  Julian  Mitchell  was  indignant  at  the  idea  of 
submitting  to  the  rule  of  a  "  rail-splitter,"  and  of  such  men 
as  Seward  and  Cameron.  "  No  gentleman  could  tolerate  such 
a  Government." 

An  American  family  from  Nashville,  consisting  of  a  lady 
and  her  son  and  daughter,  were  warm  advocates  of  a  "  gen 
tlemanly"  government,  and  derided  the  Yankees  with  great 
bitterness.  But  they  were  by  no  means  as  ready  to  encoun 
ter  the  evils  of  war,  or  to  break  up  the  Union,  as  the  South- 
Carolinian  or  the  Virginian ;  and  in  that  respect  they  repre 
sented,  I  was  told,  the  negative  feelings  of  the  Border  States, 
which  are  disposed  to  a  temporizing,  moderate  course  of  ac 
tion,  most  distasteful  to  the  passionate  seceders. 

There  were  also  two  Louisiana  sugar-planters  on  board  — 
one  owning  500  slaves,  the  other  rich  in  some  thousands  of 
acres  ;  they  seemed  to  care  very  little  for  the  political  aspects 
of  the  question  of  Secession,  and  regarded  it  merely  in  refer 
ence  to  its  bearing  on  the  sugar  crop,  and  the  security  of  slave 
property.  Secession  was  regarded  by  them  as  a  very  extreme 
and  violent  measure,  to  which  the  State  had  resorted  with  re 
luctance  ;  but  it  was  obvious,  at  the  same  time,  that,  in  event 
of  a  general  secession  of  the  Slave  States  from  the  North, 
Louisiana  could  neither  have  maintained  her  connection  with 
the  North,  nor  have  stood  in  isolation  from  her  sister  States. 

All  these,  and  some  others  who  were  fellow-passengers, 
might  be  termed  Americans  — pur  sang.  Garnett  belonged 
to  a  very  old  family  in  Virginia.  Mitchell  came  from  a  stock 
of  several  generations'  residence  in  South  Carolina.  The 
Tennessee  family  were,  in  speech  and  thought,  types  of  what 
Europeans  consider  true  Americans  to  be.  Now  take  the 
other  side.  First  there  was  an  exceedingly  intelligent,  well- 
informed  young  merchant  of  New  York  —  nephew  of  an  Eng 
lish  county  Member,  known  for  his  wealth,  liberality,  and  mu 
nificence.  Educated  at  a  university  in  the  Northern  States, 
he  had  lived  a  good  deal  in  England,  and  was  returning  to 
his  father  from  a  course  of  book-keeping  in  the  house  of  his 
uncle's  firm  in  Liverpool.  His  father  and  uncle  were  born 
near  Coleraine,  and  lie  had  just  been  to  see  the  humble  dwell 
ing,  close  to  the  Giant's  Causeway,  which  sheltered  their 
youth,  and  where  their  race  was  cradled.  In  the  war  of  1812, 
the  brothers  were  about  sailing  in  a  privateer  fitted  out  to 
prey  against  the  British,  when  accident  fixed  one  of  them  in 
Liverpool,  where  he  founded  the  house  which  has  grown  so 


6  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

was  without,  so  far  as  I  could  see,  any  legitimate  cause  of  re 
volt,  or  any  injury  or  grievance,  perpetrated  or  imminent,  as 
sailed  by  States  still  less  friendly  to  us,  which  the  Slave  States, 
pure  and  simple,  certainly  were  and  probably  are.  At  the 
same  time,  I  knew  that  these  were  grounds  which  I  could  just 
ly  take,  whilst  they  would  not  be  tenable  by  an  American,  who 
is  by  the  theory  on  which  he  revolted  from  us  and  created  his 
own  system  of  government,  bound  to  recognize  the  principle 
that  the  discontent  of  the  popular  majority  with  its  rulers,  is 
ample  ground  and  justification  for  revolution. 

It  was  on  the  morning  of  the  fourteenth  day  that  the  shores 
of  New  York  loomed  through  the  drift  of  a  cold  wintry  sea, 
leaden-gray  and  comfortless,  and  in  a  little  time  more  the 
coast,  covered  with  snow,  rose  in  sight.  Towards  the  after 
noon  the  sun  came  out  and  brightened  the  waters  and  the  sails 
of  the  pretty  trim  schooners  and  coasters  which  were  dancing 
around  us.  How  different  the  graceful,  tautly-rigged,  clean, 
white-sailed  vessels,  from  the  round-sterned,  lumpish  billyboys 
and  nondescripts  of  the  eastern  coast  of  our  isle  !  Presently 
there  came  bowling  down  towards  us  a  lively  little  schooner- 
yacht,  very  like  the  once  famed  "America,"  brightly  painted 
in  green,  sails  dazzling  white,  lofty  ponderous  masts,  no  tops. 
As  she  came  nearer,  we  saw  she  was  crowded  with  men  in 
chimney-pot  black  hats,  and  coats,  and  the  like  —  perhaps  a 
party  of  citizens  on  pleasure,  cold  as  the  day  was.  Nothing 
of  the  kind.  The  craft  was  our  pilot-boat,  and  the  hats  and 
coats  belonged  to  the  hardy  mariners  who  act  as  guides  to  the 
port  of  New  York.  Their  boat  was  lowered,  and  was  soon 
under  our  mainchains  ;  and  a  chimney-pot  hat  having  duly 
come  over  the  side,  delivered  a  mass  of  newspapers  to  the  cap 
tain,  which  were  distributed  among  the  eager  passengers,  when 
each  at  once  became  the  centre  of  a  spell-bound  circle. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Arrival  at  New  York  —  Custom  house  —  General  impressions  as  to 
North  and  South  —  Street  in  New  York  —  Hotel  —  Breakfast  — 
American  women  and  men  —  Visit  to  Mr.  Bancroft  —  Street  rail 
ways. 

THE  entrance  to  New  York,  as  it  was  seen  by  us  on 
16th  March,  is  not  remarkable  for  beauty  or  picturesque 
scenery,  and  I  incurred  the  ire  of  several  passengers,  because 
I  could  not  consistently  say  it  was  very  pretty.  It  was 
difficult  to  distinguish  through  the  snow  the  villas  and  country 
houses,  which  are  said  to  be  so  charming  in  summer.  But 
beyond  these  rose  a  forest  of  masts  close  by  a  low  shore  of 
brick  houses  and  blue  roofs,  above  the  level  of  which  again 
spires  of  churches  and  domes  and  cupolas  announced  a  great 
city.  On  our  left,  at  the  narrowest  part  of  the  entrance, 
there  was  a  very  powerful  casemated  work  of  fine  close  stone, 
in  three  tiers,  something  like  Fort  Paul  at  Sebastopol,  built 
close  to  the  water's  edge,  and  armed  on  all  the  faces,  —  ap 
parently  a  tetragon  with  bastions.  Extensive  works  were 
going  on  at  the  ground  above  it,  which  rises  rapidly  from  the 
water  to  a  height  of  more  than  a  hundred  feet,  and  the  rudi 
ments  of  an  extensive  work  and  heavily  armed  earthen  para 
pets  could  be  seen  from  the  channel.  On  the  right  hand, 
crossing  its  fire  with  that  of  the  batteries  and  works  on  our 
left,  there  was  another  regular  stone  fort  with  fortified  en 
ceinte  ;  and  higher  up  the  channel,  as  it  widens  to  the  city 
on  the  same  side,  I  could  make  out  a  smaller  fort  on  the 
water's  edge.  The  situation  of  the  city  renders  it  susceptible 
of  powerful  defence  from  the  seaside  ;  and  even  now  it  would 
be  hazardous  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  batteries,  unless  in 
powerful  iron-clad  ships  favored  by  wind  and  tide,  which 
could  hold  the  place  at  their  mercy.  Against  a  wooden  fleet 
New  York  is  now  all  but  secure,  save  under  exceptional  cir 
cumstances  in  favor  of  the  assailants. 

It  was  dark  as  the  steamer  hauled  up  alongside  the  wharf 
on  the  New  Jersey  side  of  the  river ;  but  ere  the  sun  set,  I 


8  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

could  form  some  idea  of  the  activity  and  industry  of  the  peo 
ple  from  the  enormous  ferry-boats  moving  backwards  and  for 
wards  like  arks  on  the  water,  impelled  by  the  great  walking- 
beam  engines,  the  crowded  stream  full  of  merchantmen, 
steamers,  and  small  craft,  the  smoke  of  the  factories,  the  tall 
chimneys,  —  the  net-work  of  boats  and  rafts,  —  all  the  evi 
dences  of  commercial  life  in  full  development.  What  a 
swarming,  eager  crowd  on  the  quay-wall !  What  a  wonderful 
ragged  regiment  of  laborers  and  porters,  hailing  us  in  broken 
or  Hibernianized  English !  "  These  are  all  Irish  and  Ger 
mans,"  anxiously  explained  a  New  Yorker.  "  I'll  bet  fifty 
dollars  there's  not  a  native-born  American  among  them." 

With  Anglo-Saxon  disregard  of  official  insignia,  American 
Custom  House  officers  dress  very  much  like  their  British 
brethren,  without  any  sign  of  authority  as  faint  as  even  the 
brass  button  and  crown,  so  that  the  stranger  is  somewhat  un 
easy  when  he  sees  unauthorized-looking  people  taking  liber 
ties  with  his  plunder,  especially  after  the  admonitions  he  has 
received  on  board  ship  to  look  sharp  about  his  things  as  soon 
as  he  lands.  I  was  provided  with  an  introduction  to  one  of 
the  principal  officers,  and  he  facilitated  my  egress,  and  at  last 
I  was  bundled  out  through  a  gate  into  a  dark  alley,  ankle 
deep  in  melted  snow  and  mud,  where  I  was  at  once  engaged 
in  a  brisk  encounter  with  my  Irish  porterhood,  and,  after  a 
long  struggle,  succeeded  in  stowing  my  effects  in  and  about  a 
remarkable  specimen  of  the  hackney-coach  of  the  last  cen 
tury,  very  high  in  the  axle,  and  weak  in  the  springs,  which 
plashed  down  towards  the  river  through  a  crowd  of  men 
shouting  out,  "You  haven't  paid  me  yet,  yer  honor.  You 
haven't  given  anything  to  your  own  man  that's  been  waiting 
here  the  last  six  months  for  your  honor ! "  "  Tm  the  man 
that  put  the  lugidge  up,  sir,"  &c.,  &c.  The  coach  darted  on 
board  a  great  steam  ferry-boat,  which  had  on  deck  a  number 
of  similar  vehicles  and  omnibuses ;  and  the  gliding,  shifting 
lights,  and  the  deep,  strong  breathing  of  the  engine,  told  me 
I  was  moving  and  afloat  before  I  was  otherwise  aware  of  it. 
A  few  minutes  brought  us  over  to  the  lights  on  the  New  York 
side,  —  a  jerk  or  two  up  a  steep  incline,  —  and  we  were  rat 
tling  over  a  most  abominable  pavement,  plunging  into  mud- 
holes,  squashing  through  snow-heaps  in  ill-lighted,  narrow 
streets  of  low,  mean-looking,  wooden  houses,  of  which  an  un 
usual  proportion  appeared  to  be  lager-bier  saloons,  whiskey- 
shops,  oyster-houses,  and  billiard  and  smoking  establishments. 

The  crowd  on  the  pavement  were  very  much  what  a  stran- 


STREETS.  9 

ger  would  be  likely  to  see  in  a  very  bad  part  of  London, 
Antwerp,  or  Hamburg,  with  a  dash  of  the  noisy  exuberance 
which  proceeds  from  the  high  animal  spirits  that  defy  police 
regulations  and  are  superior  to  police  force,  called  "  rowdy 
ism."  The  drive  was  long  and  tortuous  ;  but  by  degrees  the 
character  of  the  thoroughfares  and  streets  improved.  At 
last  we  turned  into  a  wide  street  with  very  tall  houses,  alter 
nating  with  far  humbler  erections,  blazing  with  lights,  gay 
with  shop-windows,  thronged  in  spite  of  the  mud  with  well- 
dressed  people,  and  pervaded  by  strings  of  omnibuses,  —  Ox 
ford  Street  was  nothing  to  it  for  length.  At  intervals  there 
towered  up  a  block  of  brickwork  and  stucco,  with  long  rows 
of  windows  lighted  up  tier  above  tier,  and  a  swarming  crowd 
passing  in  and  out  of  the  portals,  which  were  recognized  as 
the  barrack -like  glory  of  American  civilization,  —  a  Broad 
way  monster  hotel.  More  oyster-shops,  lager-bier  saloons, 
concert -rooms  of  astounding  denominations,  with  external 
decorations  very  much  in  the  style  of  the  booths  at  Bartholo 
mew  Fair,  —  churches,  restaurants,  confectioners,  private 
houses!  again  another  series,  —  they  cannot  go  on  expanding 
forever.  The  coach  at  last  drives  into  a  large  square,  and 
lands  me  at  the  Clarendon  Hotel. 

Whilst  I  was  crossing  the  sea,  the  President's  Inaugural 
Message,  the  composition  of  which  is  generally  attributed  to 
Mr.  Seward,  had  been  delivered,  and  had  reached  Europe, 
and  the  causes  which  were  at  work  in  destroying  the  cohesion 
of  the  Union  had  acquired  greater  strength  and  violence. 

Whatever  force  "  the  declaration  of  causes  which  induced 
the  Secession  of  South  Carolina  "  might  have  for  Carolinians, 
it  could  not  influence  a  foreigner  who  knew  nothing  at  all  of 
the  rights,  sovereignty,  and  individual  independence  of  a  state, 
which,  however,  had  no  right  to  make  war  or  peace,  to  coin 
money,  or  enter  into  treaty  obligations  with  any  other  coun 
try.  The  South  Carolinian  was  nothing  to  us,  quoad  South 
Carolina  —  he  was  merely  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and 
we  knew  no  more  of  him  in  any  other  capacity  than  a  French 
authority  would  know  of  a  British  subject  as  a  Yorkshireman 
or  a  Munsterman. 

But  the  moving  force  of  revolution  is  neither  reason  nor 
justice  —  it  is  most  frequently  passion  —  it  is  often  interest. 
The  American,  when  he  seeks  to  prove  that  the  Southern 
States  have  no  right  to  revolt  from  a  confederacy  of  states 
created  by  revolt,  has  by  the  principles  on  which  he  justifies 
1* 


10  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

his  own  revolution,  placed  between  himself  and  the  European 
a  great  gulf  in  the  level  of  argument.  According  to  the  deeds 
and  words  of  Americans,  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  South  Caro 
lina  should  not  use  the  rights  claimed  for  each  of  the  thirteen 
colonies,  "  to  alter  and  abolish  a  form  of  government  when  it 
becomes  destructive  of  the  ends  for  which  it  is  established, 
and  to  institute  a  new  one."  And  the  people  must  be  left  to 
decide  the  question  as  regards  their  own  government  for  them 
selves,  or  the  principle  is  worthless.  The  arguments,  how 
ever,  which  are  now  going  on  are  fast  tending  towards  the 
ultima  ratio  regum.  At  present  I  find  public  attention  is  con 
centrated  on  the  two  Federal  forts,  Pickens  and  Sumter,  called 
after  two  officers  of  the  revolutionary  armies  in  the  old  war. 
As  Alabama  and  South  Carolina  have  gone  out,  they  now  de 
mand  the  possession  of  these  forts,  as  of'  the  soil  of  their  sev 
eral  states  and  attached  to  their  sovereignty.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Government  of  Mr.  Lincoln  considers  it  has  no  right 
to  give  up  anything  belonging  to  the  Federal  Government, 
but  evidently  desires  to  temporize  and  evade  any  decision 
which  might  precipitate  an  attack  on  the  forts  by  the  batteries 
and  forces  prepared  to  act  against  them.  There  is  not  suffi 
cient  garrison  in  either  for  an  adequate  defence,  and  the  diffi 
culty  of  procuring  supplies  is  very  great.  Under  the  circum 
stances  every  one  is  asking  what  the  Government  is  going  to 
do  ?  The  Southern  people  have  declared  they  will  resist  any 
attempt  to  supply  or  reinforce  the  garrisons,  and  in  Charles 
ton,  at  least,  have  shown  they  mean  to  keep  their  word.  It 
is  a  strange  situation.  The  Federal  Government,  afraid  to 
speak,  and  unable  to  act,  is  leaving  its  soldiers  to  do  as  they 
please.  In  some  instances,  officers  of  rank,  such  as  General 
Twiggs,  have  surrendered  everything  to  the  State  authorities, 
and  the  treachery  and  secession  of  many  officers  in  the  army 
and  navy  no  doubt  paralyze  and  intimidate  the  civilians  at  the 
head  of  affairs. 

Sunday,  11  th  March.  —  The  first  thing  I  saw  this  morning, 
after  a  vision  of  a  waiter  pretending  to  brush  my  clothes  with 
a  feeble  twitch  composed  of  fine  fibre  had  vanished,  was  a  pro 
cession  of  men,  forty  or  fifty  perhaps,  preceded  by  a  small 
band  (by  no  excess  of  compliment  can  I  say,  of  music),  trudg 
ing  through  the  cold  and  slush  two  arid  two  :  they  wore  sham 
rocks,  or  the  best  resemblance  thereto  which  the  American 
soil  can  produce,  in  their  hats,  and  green  silk  sashes  embla 
zoned  with  crownless  harp  upon  their  coats,  but  it  needed  not 


COSTUME.  —  HOUSES.  1 1 

these  insignia  to  tell  they  were  Irishmen,  and  their  solemn  mien 
indicated  that  they  were  going  to  ma.ss.  It  was  agreeable  to 
see  them  so  well  clad  and  respectable  looking,  though  occa 
sional  hats  seemed  as  if  they  had  just  recovered  from  severe 
contusions,  and  others  had  the  picturesque  irregularity  of  out 
line  now  and  then  observable  in  the  old  country.  The  aspect 
of  the  street  was  irregular,  and  its  abnormal  look  was  increased 
by  the  air  of  the  passers-by,  who  at  that  hour  were  domestics 
—  very  finely  dressed  negroes,  Irish,  or  German.  The  col 
ored  ladies  made  most  elaborate  toilets,  and  as  they  held  up 
their  broad  crinolines  over  the  mud  looked  not  unlike  double- 
stemmed  mushrooms.  "  They're  concayted  poor  craythures 
them  niggirs,  male  and  faymale,"  was  the  remark  of  the  wait 
er  as  he  saw  me  watching  them.  "  There  seem  to  be  no  spar 
rows  in  the  streets,"  said  I.  "  Sparras  ! "  he  exclaimed  ;  "  and 
then  how  did  you  think  a  little  baste  of  a  sparra  could  fly 
across  the  ochean  ?  "  I  felt  rather  ashamed  of  myself. 

And  so  down-stairs  where  there  was  a  table  d'hote  room, 
with  great  long  tables  covered  with  cloths,  plates,  and  break 
fast  apparatus,  and  a  smaller  room  inside,  to  which  I  was  di 
rected  by  one  of  the  white-jacketed  waiters.  Breakfast  over, 
visitors  began  to  drop  in.  At  the  "  office  "  of  the  hotel,  as  it 
is  styled,  there  is  a  tray  of  blank  cards  and  a  big  pencil,  where 
by  the  cardless  man  who  is  visiting  is  enabled  to  send  you  his 
name  and  title.  There  is  a  comfortable  "  reception  room,"  in 
which  he  can  remain  and  read  the  papers,  if  you  are  engaged, 
so  that  there  is  little  chance  of  your  ultimately  escaping  him. 
And,  indeed,  not  one  of  those  who  came  had  any  but  most  hos 
pitable  intents. 

Out  of  doors  the  weather  was  not  tempting.  The  snow  lay 
in  irregular  layers  and  discolored  mounds  along  the  streets, 
and  the  gutters  gorged  with  "  snow-bree  "  flooded  the  broken 
pavement.  But  after  a  time  the  crowds  began  to  issue  from 
the  churches,  and  it  was  announced  as  the  necessity  of  the 
day,  that  we  were  to  walk  up  and  down  the  Fifth  Avenue  and 
look  at  each  other.  This  is  the  west-end  of  London  —  its 
Belgravia  and  Grosvenoria  represented  in  one  long  street,  with 
offshoots  of  inferior  dignity  at  right  angles  to  it.  Some  of  the 
houses  are  handsome,  but  the  greater  number  have  a  com 
pressed,  squeezed-up  aspect,  which  arises  from  the  compulso 
ry  narrowness  of  frontage  in  proportion  to  the  height  of  the 
building,  and  all  of  them  are  bright  and  new,  as  if  they  were 
just  finished  to  order,  —  a  most  astonishing  proof  of  the  rapid 


12  MY   DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

development  of  the  city.  As  the  hall-door  is  made  an  impor 
tant  feature  in  the  residence,  the  front  parlor  is  generally  a 
narrow,  lanky  apartment,  struggling  for  existence  between  the 
hall  and  the  partition  of  the  next  house.  The  outer  door, 
which  is  always  provided  with  fine  carved  panels  and  mould 
ings,  is  of  some  rich  varnished  wood,  and  looks  much  better 
than  our  painted  doors.  It  is  generously  thrown  open  so  as 
to  show  an  inner  door  with  curtains  and  plate  plass.  The 
windows,  which  are  double  on  account  of  the  climate,  are  fre 
quently  of  plate  glass  also.  Some  of  the  doors  are  on  the 
same  level  as  the  street,  with  a  basement  story  beneath  ; 
others  are  approached  by  flights  of  steps,  the  basement  for 
servants  having  the  entrance  below  the  steps,  and  this,  I  be 
lieve,  is  the  old  Dutch  fashion,  and  the  name  of  "stoop"  is 
still  retained  for  it. 

No  liveried  servants  are  to  be  seen  about  the  streets,  the 
door-ways,  or  the  area-steps.  Black  faces  in  gaudy  caps,  or 
an  unmistakable  "Biddy"  in  crinoline  are  their  substitutes. 
The  chief  charm  of  the  street  was  the  living  ornature  which 
moved  up  and  down  the  trottoirs.  The  costumes  of  Paris, 
adapted  to  the  severity  of  this  wintry  weather,  were  draped 
round  pretty,  graceful  figures  which,  if  wanting  somewhat  in 
that  rounded  fulness  of  the  Meclicean  Venus,  or  in  height, 
were  svelte  and  well  poised.  The  French  boot  has  been 
driven  off  the  field  by  the  Balmoral,  better  suited  to  the  snow  ; 
and  one  must  at  once  admit — all  prejudices  notwithstanding 
—  that  the  American  woman  is  not  only  well  shod  and  well 
gloved,  but  that  she  has  no  reason  to  fear  comparisons,  in 
foot  or  hand  with  any  daughter  of  Eve,  except,  perhaps, 
the  Hindoo. 

The  great  and  most  frequent  fault  of  the  stranger  in 
any  land  is  that  of  generalizing  from  a  few  facts.  Every 
one  must  feel  there  are  "  pretty  days  "  and  "  ugly  days "  in 
the  world,  and  that  his  experience  on  the  one  would  lead  him 
to  conclusions  very  different  from  that  to  which  he  would 
arrive  on  the  other.  To-day  I  am  quite  satisfied  that  if 
the  American  women  are  deficient  in  stature  and  in  that 
which  makes  us  say,  "  There  is  a  fine  woman,"  they  are  easy, 
well  formed,  and  full  of  grace  and  prettiness.  Admitting  a 
certain  pallor  —  which  the  Russians,  by  the  by,  were  wont 
to  admire  so  much  that  they  took  vinegar  to  produce  it  —  the 
face  is  not  only  pretty,  but  sometimes  of  extraordinary 
beauty,  the  features  fine,  delicate,  well  defined.  Ruby  lips, 


MR.   BANCROFT.  13 

indeed,  are  seldom  to  be  seen,  but  now  and  then  the  flashing 
of  snowy-white  evenly-set  ivory  teeth  dispels  the  delusion 
that  the  Americans  are  —  though  the  excellence  of  their  den 
tists  be  granted — naturally  ill  provided  with  what  they  take 
so  much  pains,  by  eating  bon-bons  and  confectionery,  to  de 
prive  of  their  purity  and  color. 

My  friend  R ,  with  whom  I  was  walking,  knew  every 

one  in  the  Fifth  Avenue,  and  we  worked  our  way  through  a 
succession  of  small  talk  nearly  as  far  as  the  end  of  the  street 
which  runs  out  among  divers  places  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  through  a  debris  of  unfinished  conceptions  in  masonry. 
The  abrupt  transition  of  the  city  into  the  country  is  not  un 
favorable  to  an  idea  that  the  Fifth  Avenue  might  have  been 
transported  from  some  great  workshop,  where  it  had  been  built 
to  order  by  a  despot,  and  dropped  among  the  Red  men  :  in 
deed,  the  immense  growth  of  New  York  in  this  direction, 
although  far  inferior  to  that  of  many  parts  of  London,  is  re 
markable  as  the  work  of  eighteen  or  twenty  years,  and  is 
rendered  more  conspicuous  by  being  developed  in  this  elon 
gated  street,  and  its  contingents.  I  was  introduced  to  many 
persons  to-day,  and  was  only  once  or  twice  asked  how  I  liked 
New  York ;  perhaps  I  anticipated  the  question  by  expressing 
my  high  opinion  of  the  Fifth  Avenue.  Those  to  whom  I 
spoke  had  generally  something,  to  say  in  reference  to  the 
troubled  condition  of  the  country,  but  it  was  principally  of  a 
self-complacent  nature.  '"  I  suppose,  sir,  you  are  rather  sur 
prised,  coming  from  Europe,  to  find  us  so  quiet  here  in  New 
York:  we  are  a  peculiar  people,  and  you  don't  understand  us 
in  Europe." 

In  the  afternoon  I  called  on  Mr.  Bancroft,  formerly  minis 
ter  to  England,  whose  work  on  America  must  be  rather  rudely 
interrupted  by  this  crisis.  Anything  with  an  "  ex  "  to  it  in 
America  is  of  little  weight  —  ex-presidents  are  nobodies, 
though  they  have  had  the  advantage,  during  their  four  years' 
tenure  of  office,  of  being  prayed  for  as  long  as  they  live.  So 
it  is  of  ex-ministers,  whom  nobody  prays  for  at  all.  Mr. 
Bancroft  conversed  for  some  time  on  the  aspect  of  affairs,  but 
he  appeared  to  be  unable  to  arrive  at  any  settled  conclusion, 
except  that  the  republic,  though  in  danger,  was  the  most 
stable  and  beneficial  form  of  government  in  the  world,  and 
that  as  a  Goverment  it  had  no  power  to  coerce  the  people  of 
the  South  or  to  save  itself  from  the  danger.  I  was  indeed 
astonished  to  hear  from  him  and  others  so  much  philosophical 


14  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

abstract  reasoning  as  to  the  right  of  seceding,  or,  what  is  next 
to  it,  the  want  of  any  power  in  the  Government  to  prevent 
it. 

Returning  home  in  order  to  dress  for  dinner,  I  got  into  a 
street-railway-car,  a  long  low  omnibus  drawn  by  horses  over  a 
strada  ferrata  in  the  middle  of  the  street.  It  \vas  filled  with 
people  of  all  classes,  and  at  every  crossing  some  one  or  other 
rang  the  bell,  and  the  driver  stopped  to  let  out  or  to  take  in 
passengers,  whereby  the  unoffending  traveller  became  pos 
sessed  of  much  snow-droppings  and  mud  on  boots  and  cloth 
ing.  I  found  that  by  far  a  greater  inconvenience  caused  by 
these  street-railways  was  the  destruction  of  all  comfort  or 
rapidity  in  ordinary  carriages. 

I  dined  with  a  New  York  banker,  who  gave  such  a  dinner 
as  bankers  generally  give  all  over  the  world.  He  is  a  man 
still  young,  very  kindly,  hospitable,  well-informed,  with  a  most 
charming  household  —  an  American  by  theory,  an  English 
man  in  instincts  and  tastes  —  educated  in  Europe,  and  sprung 
from  British  stock.  Considering  the  enormous  interests  he 
has  at  stake,  I  was  astonished  to  perceive  how  calmly  he 
spoke  of  the  impending  troubles.  His  friends,  all  men  of  po 
sition  in  New  York  society,  had  the  same  dilettante  tone,  and 
were  as  little  anxious  for  the  future,  or  excited  by  the  present, 
as  a  party  of  savans  chronicling  the  movements  of  a  "  mag 
netic  storm." 

On  going  back  to  the  hotel,  I  heard  that  Judge  Daly  and 
some  gentlemen  had  called  to  request  that  I  would  dine  with 
the  Friendly  Society  of  St.  Patrick  to-morrow  at  Astor 
House.  In  what  is  called  "  the  bar,"  I  met  several  gentle 
men,  one  of  whom  said,  "  the  majority  of  the  people  of  New 
York,  and  all  the  respectable  people,  were  disgusted  at  the 
election  of  such  a  fellow  as  Lincoln  to  be  President,  and 
would  back  the  Southern  States,  if  it  came  to  a  split." 


CHAPTER   III. 

"  St.  Patrick's  day  "  in  New  York  —  Public  dinner  —  American  Con 
stitution —  General  topics  of  conversation  —  Public  estimate  of  the 
Government  —  Evening  party  at  Mons.  B *s. 

Monday,  18th.  —  "St.  Patrick's  day  in  the  morning"  being 
on  the  17th,  was  kept  by  the  Irish  to-day.  In  the  early 
morning  the  sounds  of  drumming,  fifing,  and  bugling  came 
with  the  hot  water  and  my  Irish  attendant  into  the  room. 
He  told  me :  "  We'll  have  a  pretty  nice  day  for  it.  The 
weather's  often  agin  us  on  St.  Patrick's  day."  At  the  angle 
of  the  square  outside  I  saw  a  company  of  volunteers  assem 
bling.  They  wore  bear-skin  caps,  some  turned  brown,  and 
rusty  green  coatees,  with  white  facings  and  crossbelts,  a  good 
deal  of  gold-lace  and  heavy  worsted  epaulettes,  and  were 
armed  with  ordinary  muskets,  some  of  them  with  flint-locks. 
Over  their  heads  floated  a  green  and  gold  flag  with  mystic 
emblems,  and  a  harp  and  sunbeams.  A  gentleman,  with  an 
imperfect  seat  on  horseback,  which  justified  a  suspicion  that 
he  was  not  to  the  manor  born  of  Squire  or  Squireen,  with 
much  difficulty  was  getting  them  into  line,  and  endangering 
his  personal  safety  by  a  large  infantry-sword,  the  hilt  of  which 
was  complicated  with  the  bridle  of  his  charger  in  some  inexpli 
cable  manner.  This  gentleman  was  the  officer  in  command 
of  the  martial  body,  who  were  gathering  to  do  honor  to  the 
festival  of  the  old  country;  and  the  din  and  clamor  in  the 
streets,  the  strains  of  music,  and  the  tramp  of  feet  outside 
announced  that  similar  associations  were  on  their  way  to  the 
rendezvous.  The  waiters  in  the  hotel,  all  of  whom  were  Irish, 
had  on  their  best,  and  wore  an  air  of  pleased  importance. 
Many  of  their  countrymen  outside  on  the  pavement  exhibited 
very  large  decorations,  plates  of  metal,  and  badges  attached 
to  broad  ribbons  over  their  left  breasts. 

After  breakfast  I  struggled  with  a  friend  through  the  crowd 
which  thronged  Union  Square.  Bless  them !  They  were  all 
Irish,  judging  from  speech  and  gesture  and  look  ;  for  the 


16  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

most  part  decently  dressed,  and  comfortable,  evidently  bent 
on  enjoying  the  day  in  spite  of  the  cold,  and  proud  of  the 
privilege  of  interrupting  all  the  trade  of  the  principal  streets, 
in  which  the  Yankees  most  do  congregate,  for  the  day.  They 
were  on  the  door-steps,  and  on  the  pavement  men,  women, 
and  children,  admiring  the  big  policemen  —  many  of  them 
compatriots  —  and  they  swarmed  at  the  corners,  cheering 
popular  town-councillors  or  local  celebrities.  Broadway  was 
equally  full.  Flags  were  flying  from  the  windows  and  stee 
ples  —  £md  on  the  cold  breeze  came  the  hammering  of  drums, 
and  the  blasts  of  many  wind  instruments.  The  display,  such 
as  it  was,  partook  of  a  military  character,  though  not  much 
more  formidable  in  that  sense  than  the  march  of  the  Trades 
Unions,  or  of  Temperance  Societies.  Imagine  Broadway 
lined  for  the  long  miles  of  its  course  by  spectators  mostly 
Hibernian,  and  the  great  gaudy  stars  and  stripes,  or  as  one 
of  the  Secession  journals  I  see  styles  it,  the  "  Sanguinary 
United  States  Gridiron  "  —  waving  in  all  directions,  whilst  up 
its  centre  in  the  mud  march  the  children  of  Erin. 

First  came  the  acting  Brigadier-General  and  his  staff,  es 
corted  by  40  lancers,  very  ill-dressed,  and  worse  mounted  : 
horses  dirty,  accoutrements  in  the  same  condition,  bits,  bridles, 
and  buttons  rusty  and  tarnished  ;  uniforms  ill-fitting,  and  badly 
put  on.  But  the  red  flags  and  the  show  pleased  the  crowd, 
and  they  cheered  "  bould  Nugent"  right  loudly.  A  band  fol 
lowed,  some  members  of  which  had  been  evidently  "  smiling" 
with  each  other ;  and  next  marched  a  body  of  drummers  in 
military  uniform,  rattling  away  in  the  French  fashion.  Here 
comes  the  69th  N.  Y.  State  Militia  Regiment  —  the  battalion 
which  would  not  turn  out  when  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  in 
New  York,  and  whose  Colonel,  Corcoran,  is  still  under  court 
martial  for  his  refusal.  Well,  the  Prince  had  no  loss,  and  the 
Colonel  may  have  had  other  besides  political  reasons  for  his 
dislike  to  parade  his  men. 

The  regiment  turned  out,  I  should  think,  only  200  or  220 
men,  fine  fellows  enough,  but  not  in  the  least  like  soldiers  or 
militia.  The  United  States  uniform  which  most  of  the  mili 
tary  bodies  wore,  consists  of  a  blue  tunic  and  trousers,  and  a 
kepi-like  cap,  with  "  U.  S."  in  front  for  undress.  In  full  dress 
the  officers  wear  large  gold  epaulettes,  and  officers  and  men  a 
bandit-sort  of  felt  hat  looped  up  at  one  side,  and  decorated 
with  a  plume  of  black-ostrich  feathers  and  silk  cords.  The 
absence  of  facings,  and  the  want  of  something  to  finish  off  the 


FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES.  17 

collar  and  cuffs,  render  the  tunic  very  bald  and  unsightly. 
Another  band  closed  the  rear  of  the  69th,  and  to  eke  out  the 
military  show,  which  in  all  was  less  than  1200  men,  some  com 
panies  were  borrowed  from  another  regiment  of  State  Militia, 
and  a  troop  of  very  poor  cavalry  cleared  the  way  for  the 
Napper-Tandy  Artillery,  which  actually  had  three  whole  guns 
with  them  !  It  was  strange  to  dwell  on  some  of  the  names  of 
the  societies  which  followed.  For  instance,  there  were  the 
"  Dungannon  Volunteers  of  '82,"  prepared  of  course  to  vindi 
cate  the  famous  declaration  that  none  should  make  laws  for 
Ireland,  but  the  Queen,  Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ireland  ! 
Every  honest  Catholic  among  them  ignorant  of  the  fact  that 
the  Volunteers  of  '82  were  all  Protestants.  Then  there  was 
the  "  Sarsfield  Guard  !  "  One  cannot  conceive  anything  more 
hateful  to  the  fiery  high-spirited  cavalier,  than  the  republican 
form  of  Government,  which  these  poor  Irishmen  are,  they 
think,  so  fond  of.  A  good  deal  of  what  passes  for  national 
sentiment,  is  in  reality  dislike  to  England  and  religious  ani 
mosity. 

It  was  much  more  interesting  to  see  the  long  string  of 
Benevolent,  Friendly,  and  Provident  Societies,  with  bands, 
numbering  many  thousands,  all  decently  clad,  and  marching 
in  order  with  banners,  insignia,  badges,  and  ribbons,  and  the 
Irish  flag  flying  along-side  the  "  stars  and  stripes."  I  cannot 
congratulate  them  on  the  taste  or  good  effect  of  their  accesso 
ries  —  on  their  symbolical  standards,  and  ridiculous  old  harp 
ers,  carried  on  stages  in  "  bardic  costume,"  very  like  artificial 
white  wigs  and  white  cotton  dressing-gowns,  but  the  actual 
good  done  by  these  societies,  is,  I  am  told,  very  great,  and 
their  charity  would  cover  far  greater  sins  than  incorrectness 
of  dress,  and  a  proneness  to  "  piper's  playing  on  the  national 
bagpipes."  The  various  societies  mustered  upwards  of  10,000 
men,  some  of  them  uniformed  and  armed,  others  dressed  in 
quaint  garments,  and  all  as  noisy  as  music  and  talking  could 
make  them.  The  Americans  appeared  to  regard  the  whole 
thing  very  much  as  an  ancient  Roman  might  have  looked  on 
the  Saturnalia ;  but  Paddy  was  in  the  ascendant,  and  could 
not  be  openly  trifled  with. 

The  crowds  remained  in  the  streets  long  after  the  proces 
sion  had  passed,  and  I  saw  various  pickpockets  captured  by 
the  big  policemen,  and  conveyed  to  appropriate  receptacles. 
"  Was  there  any  man  of  eminence  in  that  procession,"  I 
asked.  "No;  a  few  small  local  politicians,  some  wealthy 


18  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

store-keepers,  and  beer-saloon  owners  perhaps  ;  but  the  mass 
were  of  the  small  bourgeoisie.  Such  a  man  as  Mr.  O'Conor, 
who  may  be  considered  at  the  head  of  the  New  York  bar 
for  instance,  would  not  take  part  in  it." 

In  the  evening  1  went,  according  to  invitation,  to  the  Astor 
House  —  a  large  hotel,  with  a  front  like  a  railway  terminus, 
in  the  Anierico-Classical  style,  with  great  Doric  columns  and 
portico,  arid  found,  to  my  surprise,  that  the  friendly  party 
was  to  be  a  great  public  dinner.  The  halls  were  filled  with 
the  company,  few  or  none  in  evening  dress  ;  and  in  a  few 
minutes  I  was  presented  to  at  least  twenty-four  gentlemen, 
whose  names  I  did  not  even  hear.  The  use  of  badges,  med 
als,  and  ribbons,  might,  at  first,  lead  a  stranger  to  believe  he 
was  in  very  distinguished  military  society ;  but  he  would  soon 
learn  that  these  insignia  were  the  decorations  of  benevolent 
or  convivial  associations.  There  is  a  latent  taste  for  these 
things  in  spite  of  pure  republicanism.  At  the  dinner  there 
were  Americans  of  Dutch  and  English  descent,  some  "  Yan 
kees,"  one  or  two  I^nglishmen,  Scotchmen,  and  Welshmen. 
The  chairman,  Judge  Daly,  was  indeed  a  true  son  of  the 
soil,  and  his  speeches  were  full  of  good  humor,  fluency,  and 
wit;  but  his  greatest  effect  was  produced  by  the  exhibition  of 
a  tuft  of  shamrocks  in  a  flower-pot,  which  had  been  sent 
from  Ireland  for  the  occasion.  This  is  done  annually,  but, 
like  the  miracle  of  St.  Januarius,  it  never  loses  its  effect,  and 
always  touches  the  heart. 

I  confess  it  \vas  to  some  extent  curiosity  to  observe  the 
sentiment  of  the  meeting,  and  a  desire  to  see  how  Irishmen 
were  affected  by  UKJ  change  in  their  climate,  which  led  me  to 
the  room.  I  came  away  regretting  deeply  that  so  many 
natives  of  the  British  Isles  should  be  animated  with  a  hostile 
feeling  towards  Kngland,  and  that  no  statesman  has  yet  arisen 
xvho  can  devise  a  panacea  for  the  evils  of  these  passionate 
and  unmeaning  differences  between  races  and  religions.  Their 
strong  antipathy  is  not  diminished  by  the  impossibility  of  grat 
ifying  it.  They  live  in  hope,  and  certainly  the  existence  of 
these  feelings  is  not  only  troublesome  to  American  statesmen, 
but  mischievous  to  the  Irish  themselves,  inasmuch  as  they  are 
rendered  with  unusual  readiness  the  victims  of  agitators  or 
political  intriguers.  The  Irish  element,  as  it  is  called,  is  much 
regarded  in  voting  times,  by  suffraging  bishops  and  others ;  at 
other  times,  it  is  left  to  its  work  and  its  toil  —  Mr.  Seward  and 
Bishop  Hughes  are  supposed  to  be  its  present  masters.  Un- 


OFFERS   OF  SERVICE.  19 

doubtedly  the  mass  of  those  I  saw  to-day  were  better  clad  than 
they  would  have  been  if  they  remained  at  home.  As  I  said 
in  the  speech  which  I  was  forced  to  make  much  against  my 
will,  by  the  gentle  violence  of  my  companions,  never  had  I 
seen  so  many  good  hats  and  coats  in  an  assemblage  of  Irishmen 
in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

March  19.  The  morning  newspapers  contain  reports  of 
last  night's  speeches  which  are  amusing  in  one  respect,  at  all 
events,  as  affording  specimens  of  the  different  versions  which 
may  be  given  of  the  same  matter.  A  "  citizen  "  who  was  kind 
enough  to  come  in  to  shave  me,  paid  me  some  easy  compli 
ments,  in  the  manner  of  the  "  Barber  of  Seville,"  on  what  he 
termed  the  "  oration  "  of  the  night  before,  and  then  proceeded 
to  give  his  notions  of  the  merits  and  defects  of  the  American 
Constitution.  "  He  did  not  care  much  about  the  Franchise  — 
it  was  given  to  too  many  he  thought.  A  man  must  be  five 
years  resident  in  New  York  before  he  is  admitted  to  the  privi 
leges  of  voting.  When  an  emigrant  arrived,  a  paper  was  de 
livered  to  him  to  certify  the  fact,  which  he  produced  after 
lapse  of  five  years,  when  he  might  be  registered  as  a  voter  ;  if 
he  omitted  the  process  of  registration,  he  could  however  vote 
if  identified  by  two  householders,  and  a  low  lot,"  observed  the 
barber,  "  they  are  —  Irish  and  such  like.  I  don't  want  any 
of  their  votes." 

In  the  afternoon  a  number  of  gentlemen  called,  and  made 
the  kindest  offers  of  service  ;  letters  of  introduction  to  all 
parts  of  the  States  ;  facilities  of  every  description  —  all  ten 
dered  with  frankness. 

I  was  astonished  to  find  little  sympathy  and  no  respect  for 
the  newly  -installed  Government.  They  were  regarded  as 
obscure  or  undistinguished  men.  I  alluded  to  the  circumstance 
that  one  of  the  journals  continued  to  speak  of  "  The  President " 
in  the  most  contemptuous  manner,  and  to  designate  him  as  the 
great  "  Rail-Splitter."  "  Oh  yes,"  said  the  gentleman  with 
whom  I  was  conversing,  "  that  must  strike  you  as  a  strange 
way  of  mentioning  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  our  great  Republic, 
but  the  fact  is,  no  one  minds  what  the  man  writes  of  any  one, 
his  game  is  to  abuse  every  respectable  man  in  the  country  in 
order  to  take  his  revenge  on  them  for  his  social  exclusion,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  please  the  ignorant  masses  who  delight  in 
vituperation  and  scandal." 

In  the  evening,  dining  again  with  my  friend  the  banker,  I 
had  a  favorable  opportunity  of  hearing  more  of  the  special 


20  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

pleading  which  is  brought  to  bear  on  the  solution  of  the  grav 
est  political  questions.  It  would  seem  as  if  a  council  of  phy 
sicians  were  wrangling  with  each  other  over  abstract  dogmas 
respecting  life  and  health,  whilst  their  patient  was  struggling 
in  the  agonies  of  death  before  them  !  In  the  comfortable  and 
well-appointed  house  wherein  I  met  several  men  of  position, 
acquirements,  and  natural  sagacity,  there  was  not  the  smallest 
evidence  of  uneasiness  on  account  of  circumstances  which,  to 
the  eye  of  a  stranger,  betokened  an  awful  crisis,  if  not  the 
impending  dissolution  of  society  itself.  Stranger  still,  the 
acts  which  are  bringing  about  such  a  calamity  are  not  re 
garded  with  disfavor,  or,  at  least,  are  not  considered  unjus 
tifiable. 

Among  the  guests  were  the  Hon.  Horatio  Seymour,  a  for 
mer  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York  ;  Mr.  Tylden,  an 
acute  lawyer  ;  and  Mr.  Bancroft.  The  result  left  on  my  mind 
by  their  conversation  and  arguments  was  that,  according  to 
the  Constitution,  the  Government  could  not  employ  force  to 
prevent  secession,  or  to  compel  States  which  had  seceded  by 
the  will  of  the  people  to  acknowledge  the  Federal  power.  In 
fact,  according  to  them,  the  Federal  Government  was  the 
mere  machine  put  forward  by  a  Society  of  Sovereign  States, 
as  a  common  instrument  for  certain  ministerial  acts,  more 
particularly  those  which  affected  the  external  relations  of  the 
Confederation.  I  do  not  think  that  any  of  the  guests  sought 
to  turn  the  channel  of  talk  upon  politics,  but  the  occasion  of 
fered  itself  to  Mr.  Horatio  Seymour  to  give  me  his  views  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  by  degrees  the 
theme  spread  over  the  table.  I  had  bought  the  "  Consti 
tution  "  for  three  cents  in  Broadway  in  the  forenoon,  and  had 
read  it  carefully,  but  I  could  not  find  that  it  was  self-expound 
ing  ;  it  referred  itself  to  the  Supreme  Court,  but  what  was  to 
support  the  Supreme  Court  in  a  contest  with  armed  power, 
either  of  Government  or  people  ?  There  was  not  a  man  who 
maintained  the  Government  had  any  power  to  coerce  the 
people  of  a  State,  or  to  force  a  State  to  remain  in  the  Union, 
or  under  the  action  of  the  Federal  Government;  in  other 
words,  the  symbol  of  power  at  Washington  is  not  at  all  anal 
ogous  to  that  which  represents  an  established  Government  in 
other  countries.  Quid  prosunt  leges  sine  armis  ?  Although 
they  admitted  the  Southern  leaders  had  meditated  "  the  trea 
son  against  the  Union  "  years  ago,  they  could  not  bring  them 
selves  to  allow  their  old  opponents,  the  Republicans  now  in 


MR.  SEYMOUR.  21 

power,  to  dispose  of  the  armed  force  of  the  Union  against 
their  brother  democrats  in  the  Southern  States. 

Mr.  Seymour  is  a  man  of  compromise,  but  his  views  go 
farther  than  those  which  were  entertained  by  his  party  ten 
years  ago.  Although  secession  would  produce  revolution,  it 
was,  nevertheless,  "  a  right,"  founded  on  abstract  principles, 
which  could  scarcely  be  abrogated  consistently  with  due  re 
gard  to  the  original  compact.  One  of  the  company  made  a 
remark  which  was  true  enough,  I  dare  say.  We  were  talk 
ing  of  the  difficulty  of  relieving  Fort  Sumter  —  an  infallible 
topic  just  now.  "  If  the  British  or  any  foreign  power  were 
threatening  the  fort,"  said  he,  "  our  Government  would  find 
means  of  relieving  it  fast  enough."  In  fact,  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  is  groping  in  the  dark  ;  and  whilst  its  friends  are 
telling  it  to  advance  boldly,  there  are  myriad  voices  shrieking 
out  in  its  ears,  "  If  you  put  out  a  foot  you  are  lost."  There 
is  neither  army  nor  navy  available,  and  the  ministers  have  no 
machinery  of  rewards,  and  means  of  intrigue,  or  modes  of 
gaining  adherents  known  to  European  administrations.  The 
democrats  behold  with  silent  satisfaction  the  troubles  into 
which  the  Republican  triumph  has  plunged  the  country,  and 
are  not  at  all  disposed  to  extricate  them.  The  most  notable 
way  of  impeding  their  efforts  is  to  knock  them  down  with  the 
"  Constitution  "  every  time  they  rise  to  the  surface  and  begin 
to  swim  out. 

New  York  society,  however,  is  easy  in  its  mind  just  now, 
and  the  upper  world  of  millionnaire  merchants,  bankers,  con 
tractors,  and  great  traders  are  glad  that  the  vulgar  Republicans 
are  suffering  for  their  success.  Not  a  man  there  but  resented 
the  influence  given  by  universal  suffrage  to  the  mob  of  the 
city,  and  complained  of  the  intolerable  effects  of  their  ascen 
dency  —  of  the  corruption  of  the  municipal  bodies,  the  venality 
of  electors  and  elected,  and  the  abuse,  waste,  and  profligate 
outlay  of  the  public  funds.  OK  these  there  were  many  illus 
trations  given  to  me.  garnished  with  historietts  of  some  of  the 
civic  dignitaries,  and  of  their  coadjutors  in  the  press  ;  but  it 
did  not  require  proof  that  universal  suffrage  in  a  city  of  which 
perhaps  three  fourths  of  the  voters  were  born  abroad  or  of 
foreign  parents,  and  of  whom  many  were  the  scum  swept  off 
the  seethings  of  European  populations,  must  work  most  in 
juriously  on  property  and  capital.  I  confess  it  is  to  be  much 
wondered  at  that  the  consequences  are  not  more  evil ;  but  no 
doubt  the  time  is  coming  when  the  mischief  can  no  longer 


22  MY  DIARY  NORTH   AND   SOUTH. 

be  borne,  and  a  social  reform  and  revolution  must  be  inev 
itable. 

Within  only  a  very  few  hundreds  of  yards  from  the  house 

and  picture-gallery  of  Mons.   B ,   the  representative  of 

European  millions,  are  the  hovels  and  lodgings  of  his  equals 
in  political  power.  This  evening  I  visited  the  house  of  Mons. 

B ,  where  his  wife  had  a  reception,  to  which  nearly  the 

whole  of  the  party  went.  When  a  man  looks  at  a  suit  of 
armor  made  to  order  by  the  first  blacksmith  in  Europe,  he 
observes  that  the  finish  of  the  joints  and  hinges  is  much  higher 
than  in  the  old  iron  clothes  of  the  former  time.  Possibly  the 
metal  is  better,  and  the  chasings  and  garniture  as  good  as  the 
work  of  Milan,  but  the  observer  is  not  for  a  moment  led  to 
imagine  that  the  fabric  has  stood  proof  of  blows,  or  that  it 
smacks  of  ancient  watch-fire.  If  he  were  asked  why  it  is  so, 
he  could  not  tell ;  any  more  perhaps  than  he  could  define  ex 
actly  the  difference  between  the  lustrous,  highly -jewelled,  well- 
greaved  Achaian  of  New  York  and  the  very  less  effective  and 
showy  creature  who  will  in  every  society  over  the  world  pass 
muster  as  a  gentleman.  Here  was  an  elegant  house  —  I  use 
the  word  in  its  real  meaning  —  with  pretty  statues,  rich  car 
pets,  handsome  furniture  and  a  gallery  of  charming  Meisso- 
niers  and  genre  pieces  ;  the  saloons  admirably  lighted  —  a  fair 
fine  large  suite,  filled  with  the  prettiest  women  in  the  most 
delightful  toilets,  with  a  proper  fringe  of  young  men,  or 
derly,  neat,  and  well  turned-out,  fretting  against  the  usual 
advanced  posts  of  turbaned  and  jewelled  dowagers,  and  pro 
vided  with  every  accessory  to  make  the  whole  good  society ; 
for  there  was  wit,  sense,  intelligence,  vivacity ;  and  yet  there 
was  something  wanting  —  not  in  host  or  hostess,  or  company, 
or  house  —  where  was  it  ?  — •  which  was  conspicuous  by  its 
absence.  Mr.  Bancroft  was  kind  enough  to  introduce  me  to 
the  most  lovely  faces  and  figures,  and  so  far  enable  me  to 
judge  that  nothing  could  be  more  beautiful,  easy,  OF  natural 
than  the  womanhood  or  girlhood  of  New  York.  It  is  pretti- 
ness  rather  than  fineness  ;  regular,  intelligent,  wax-like  faces, 
graceful  little  figures ;  none  of  the  grandiose  Roman  type 
which  Von  llaumer  recognized  in  London,  as  in  the  Holy 
City,  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  Natheless,  the  young  men 
of  New  York  ought  to  be  thankful  and  grateful,  and  try  to  be 
worthy  of  it.  Late  in  the  evening  I  saw  these  same  young 
men,  Novi  Eboracenses,  at  their  club,  dicing  for  drinks  and 
oathing  for  nothing,  and  all  very  friendly  and  hospitable. 


THE  CLUB-HOUSE.  23 

The  club-house  is  remarkable  as  the  mansion  of  a  happy 
man  who  invented  or  patented  a  waterproof  hat-lining,  where 
by  he  built  a  'sort  of  Sallustian  villa,  with  a  central  court 
yard,  a  1'Alhambra,  with  fountains  and  flowers,  now  passed 
away  to  the  New  York  Club.  Here  was  Pratt's,  or  the  de- 
furict  Fielding,  or  the  old  C.  C.  C.'s  in  disregard  of  time  and 
regard  of  drinks  —  and  nothing  more. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Streets  and  shops  in  New  York  —  Literature  —  A  funeral  —  Dinner  at 

Mr.  H 's  —  Dinner  at  Mr.  Bancroft's  —  Political  and  social 

features  —  Literary  breakfast;  Heenan  and  Sayers. 

March  20th.  —  The  papers  are  still  full  of  Sumter  and 
Pickens.  The  reports  that  they  are  or  are  not  to  be  relieved 
are  stated  and  contradicted  in  each  paper  without  any  regard 
to  individual  consistency.  The  "  Tribune  "  has  an  article  on 
my  speech  at  the  St.  Patrick's  dinner,  to  which  it  is  pleased 
to  assign  reasons  and  motives  which  the  speaker,  at  all  events, 
never  had  in  making  it. 

Received  several  begging  letters,  some  of  them  apparently 
with  only  too  much  of  the  stamp  of  reality  about  their  tales 
of  disappointment,  distress,  and  suffering.  In  the  afternoon 
went  down  Broadway,  which  was  crowded,  notwithstanding 
the  piles  of  blackened  snow  by  the  curbstones,  and  the  sloughs 
of  mud,  and  half-frozen  pools  at  the  crossings.  Visited  sev 
eral  large  stores  or  shops  —  some  rival  the  best  establish 
ments  in  Paris  or  London  in  richness  and  in  Value,  and  far 
exceed  them  in  size  and  splendor  of  exterior.  Some  on 
Broadway,  built  of  marble,  or  of  fine  cut  stone,  cost  from 
£6,000  to  £8,000  a  year  in  mere  rent.  Here,  from  the  base 
to  the  fourth  or  fifth  story,  are  piled  collections  of  all  the 
world  can  produce,  often  in  excess  of  all  possible  requirements 
of  the  country  ;  indeed  I  was  told  that  the  United  States  have 
always  imported  more  goods  than  they  could  pay  for.  Jewel 
lers'  shops  are  not  numerous,  but  there  are  two  in  Broadway 
which  have  splendid  collections  of  jewels,  and  of  workmanship 
in  gold  and  silver,  displayed  to  the  greatest  advantage  in  fine 
apartments  decorated  with  black  marble,  statuary,  and  plate- 
glass. 

New  York  has  certainly  all  the  air  of  a  "  nouveau  riche." 
There  is  about  it  an  utter  absence  of  any  appearance  of  a 
grandfather  —  one  does  not  see  even  such  evidences  of  eccen- 


NORTH  AND  SOUTH.  25 

trie  taste  as  are  afforded  in  Paris  and  London,  by  the  exist 
ence  of  shops  where  the  old  families  of  a  country  cast  off 
their  "exuviae"  which  are  sought  by  the  new,  that  they  may 
persuade  the  world  they  are  old;  there  is  no  curiosity  shop, 
not  to  speak  of  a  Wardour  Street,  and  such  efforts  as  are  made 
to  supply  the  deficiency  reveal  an  enormous  amount  of  igno 
rance  or  of  bad  taste.  The  new  arts,  however,  flourish ;  the 
plague  of  photography  has  spread  through  all  the  corners  of 
the  city,  and  the  shop-windows  glare  with  flagrant  displays  of 
the  most  tawdry  art.  In  some  of  the  large  booksellers'  shops 
—  Appleton's  for  example  —  are  striking  proofs  of  the  activ 
ity  of  the  American  press,  if  not  of  the  vigor  and  originality 
of  the  American  intellect.  I  passed  down  long  rows  of  shelves 
laden  with  the  works  of  European  authors,  for  the  most  part, 
oh  shame !  stolen  and  translated  into  American  type  without 
the  smallest  compunction  or  scruple,  and  without  the  least  in 
tention  of  ever  yielding  the  most  pitiful  deodand  to  the  au 
thors.  Mr.  Appleton  sells  no  less  than  one  million  and  a  half 
of  Webster's  spelling-books  a  year;  his  tables  are  covered 
with  a  flood  of  pamphlets,  some  for,  others  against  coercion  ; 
some  for,  others  opposed  to  slavery,  —  but  when  I  asked  for 
a  single  solid,  substantial  work  on  the  present  difficulty,  I  was 
told  there  was  not  one  published  worth  a  cent.  With  such 
men  as  Audubon  and  Wilson  in  natural  history,  Prescott  and 
Motley  in  history,  Washington  Irving  and  Cooper  in  fiction, 
Longfellow  and  Edgar  Poe  in  poetry,  even  Bryant  and  the 
respectabilities  in  rhyme,  and  Emerson  as  essayist,  there  is  no 
reason  why  New  York  should  be  a  paltry  imitation  of  Leip- 
sig,  without  the  good  faith  of  Tauchnitz. 

I  dined  with  a  litterateur  well  known  in  England  to  many 
people  a  year  or  two  ago  — •  sprightly,  loquacious,  and  well  in 
formed,  if  neither  witty  nor  profound  —  now  a  Southern  man 
with  Southern  proclivities,  —  as  Americans  say  ;  once  a  South 
ern  man  with  such  strong  anti-slavery  convictions,  that  his  ex 
pression  of  them  in  an  English  quarterly  had  secured  him  the 
hostility  of  his  own  people  —  one  of  the  emanations  of  Amer 
ican  literary  life  for  which  their  own  country  finds  no  fitting 
receiver.  As  the  best  proof  of  his  sincerity,  he  has  just  now 
abandoned  his  connection  with  one  of  the  New  York  papers 
on  the  republican  side,  because  he  believed  that  the  course  of 
the  journal  was  dictated  by  anti-Southern  fanaticism.  He  is, 
in  fact,  persuaded  that  there  will  be  a  civil  war,  and  that  the 
South  will  have  much  of  the  right  on  its  side  in  the  contest. 
2 


26  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

At  his  rooms  were  Mons.  B ,  Dr.  Gwin,  a  Californian  ex- 
senator,  Mr.  Barlow,  and  several  of  the  leading  men  of  a  cer 
tain  clique  in  New  York.  The  Americans  complain,  or  as 
sert,  that  we  do  not  understand  them,  and  I  confess  the  re 
proach,  or  statement,  was  felt  to  be  well  founded  by  myself  at 
all  events,  when  I  heard  it  declared  and  admitted  that  "  if 
Mons.  Belmont  had  not  gone  to  the  Charleston  Convention, 
the  present  crisis  would  never  have  occurred." 

March  22d. —  A  snow-storm  worthy  of  Moscow  or  Riga 
flew  through  New  York  all  day,  depositing  more  food  for  the 
mud.  I  paid  a  visit  to  Mr.  Horace  Greeley,  and  had  a  long 
conversation  with  him.  He  expressed  great  pleasure  at  the 
intelligence  that  I  was  going  to  visit  the  Southern  States. 
"  Be  sure  you  examine  the  slave-pens.  They  will  be  afraid 
to  refuse  you,  and  you  can  tell  the  truth."  As  the  capital 
and  the  South  form  the  chief  attractions  at  present,  I  am 
preparing  to  escape  from  "  the  divine  calm "  and  snows  of 
New  York.  1  was  recommended  to  visit  many  places  before  I 
left  New  York,  principally  hospitals  and  prisons.  Sing-Sing,  the 
state  penitentiary,  is  "  claimed,"  as  the  Americans  say,  to  be 
the  first  "  institution  "  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  Time  presses, 
however,  and  Sing-Sing  is  a  long  way  off.  I  am  told  a  sys 
tem  of  torture  prevails  there  for  hardened  or  obdurate  offend- 
ders  —  torture  by  dropping  cold  water  on  them,  torture  by 
thumbscrews,  and  the  like  —  rather  opposed  to  the  views  of 
prison  philanthropists  in  modern  days. 

March  23d.  —  It  is  announced  positively  that  the  authori 
ties  in  Pensacola  and  Charleston  have  refused  to  allow  any 
further  supplies  to  be  sent  to  Fort  Pickens,  the  United  States 
fleet  in  the  Gulf,  and  to  Fort  Sumter.  Everywhere  the 
Southern  leaders  are  forcing  on  a  solution  with  decision  arid 
energy,  whilst  the  Government  appears  to  be  helplessly  drift 
ing  with  the  current  of  events,  having  neither  bow  nor  stern, 
neither  keel  nor  deck,  neither  rudder,  compass,  sails,  or  steam. 
Mr.  Seward  has  declined  to  receive  or  hold  any  intercourse 
with  the  three  gentlemen  called  Southern  Commissioners,  who 
repaired  to  Washington  accredited  by  the  Government  and 
Congress  of  the  Seceding  States  now  sitting  at  Montgomery, 
so  that  there  is  no  channel  of  mediation  or  means  of  adjust 
ment  left  open.  I  hear,  indeed,  that  Government  is  secretly 
preparing  what  force  it  can  to  strengthen  the  garrison  at 
Pickens,  and  to  reinforce  Sumter  at  any  hazard  ;  but  that  its 
want  of  men,  ships,  and  money  compels  it  to  temporize,  lest 


AMERICAN  JOURNALS.  27 

the  Southern  authorities  should  forestall  their  designs  by  a 
vigorous  attack  on  the  enfeebled  forts. 

There  is,  in  reality,  very  little  done  by  New  York  to  sup 
port  or  encourage  the  Government  in  any  decided  policy,  and 
the  journals  are  more  engaged  now  in  abusing  each  other,  and 
in  small  party  aggressive  warfare,  than  in  the  performance  of 
the  duties  of  a  patriotic  press,  whose  mission  at  such  a  time  is 
beyond  all  question  the  resignation  of  little  differences  for  the 
sake  of  the  whole  country,  and  an  entire  devotion  to  its  safety, 
honor,  and  integrity.  But  the  New  York  people  must  have 
their  intellectual  drams  every  morning,  and  it  matters  little 
what  the  course  of  Government  may  be,  so  long  as  the  aris 
tocratic  democrat  can  be  amused  by  ridicule  of  the  Great  Rail 
Splitter,  or  a  vivid  portraiture  of  Mr.  Horace  Greeley's  old 
coat,  hat,  breeches,  and  umbrella.  The  coarsest  personalities 
are  read  with  gusto,  and  attacks  of  a  kind  which  would  not 
have  been  admitted  into  the  "  Age "  or  "  Satirist "  in  their 
worst  days,  form  the  staple  leading  articles  of  one  or  two  of 
the  most  largely  circulated  journals  in  the  city.  "  Slang  "  in 
its  worst  Americanized  form  is  freely  used  in  sensation  head 
ings  and  leaders,  and  a  class  of  advertisements  which  are  not 
allowed  to  appear  in  respectable  English  papers,  have  posses 
sion  of  columns  of  the  principal  newspapers,  few,  indeed,  ex 
cluding  them.  It  is  strange,  too,  to  see  in  journals  which 
profess  to  represent  the  civilization  and  intelligence  of  the 
most  enlightened  and  highly  educated  people  on  the  face  of 
the  earth,  advertisements  of  sorcerers,  wizards,  and  fortune 
tellers  by  the  score  —  "  wonderful  clairvoyants,"  "  the  seventh 
child  of  a  seventh  child,"  "  mesmeristic  necromancers,"  and 
the  like,  who  can  tell  your  thoughts  as  soon  as  you  enter  the 
room,  can  secure  the  affections  you  prize,  give  lucky  numbers 
in  lotteries,  and  make  everybody's  fortunes  but  their  own. 
Then  there  are  the  most  impudent  quack  programmes  —  very 
doubtful  "  personals  "  addressed  to  "  the  young  lady  with  black 
hair  and  blue  eyes,  who  got  out  of  the  omnibus  at  the  corner 
of  7th  Street "  —  appeals  by  "  a  lady  about  to  be  confined  " 
to  "any  respectable  person  who  is  desirous  of  adopting  a  child: " 
all  rather  curious  reading  for  a  stranger,  or  for  a  family. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected,  of  course,  that  New  York  is  a  very 
pure  city,  for  more  than  London  or  Paris  it  is  the  sewer  of 
nations.  It  is  a  city  of  luxury  also  —  French  and  Italian 
cooks  and  milliners,  German  and  Italian  musicians,  high  prices, 
extravagant  tastes  and  dressing,  money  readily  made,  a  life  in 


28  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

hotels,  bar-rooms,  heavy  gambling,  sporting,  and  prize-fight 
ing  flourish  here,  and  combine  to  lower  the  standard  of  the 
bourgeoisie  at  all  events.  Where  wealth  is  the  sole  aristoc 
racy,  there  is  great  danger  of  mistaking  excess  and  profusion 
for  elegance  and  good  taste.  To-day  as  I  was  going  down 
Broadway,  some  dozen  or  more  of  the  most  over-dressed  men 
I  ever  saw  were  pointed  out  to  me  as  "  sports  ; "  that  is,  men 
who  lived  by  gambling-houses  and  betting  on  races  ;  and  the 
class  is  so  numerous  that  it  has  its  own  influence,  particularly 
at  elections,  when  the  power  of  a  hard-hitting  prize-fighter 
with  a  following  makes  itself  unmistakably  felt.  Young 
America  essays  to  look  like  martial  France  in  mufti,  but  the 
hat  and  the  coat  suited  to  the  Colonel  of  Carabiniers  en  re- 
traite  do  not  at  all  become  the  thin,  tall,  rather  long-faced 
gentlemen  one  sees  lounging  about  Broadway.  It  is  true,  in 
deed,  the  type,  though  not  French,  is  not  English.  The  char 
acteristics  of  the  American  are  straight  hair,  keen,  bright, 
penetrating  eyes,  and  want  of  color  in  the  cheeks. 

March  25th.  —  I  had  an  invitation  to  meet  several  mem 
bers  of  the  New  York  press  association  at  breakfast.  Among 
the  company  were — Mr.  Bayard  Taylor,  with  whose  exten 
sive  notes  of  travel  his  countrymen  are  familiar  —  a  kind  of 
enlarged  Inglis,  full  of  the  genial  spirit  which  makes  travel 
ling  in  company  so  agreeable,  but  he  has  come  back  as  trav 
ellers  generally  do,  satisfied  there  is  no  country  like  his  own 
—  Prince  Leeboo  loved  his  own  isle  the  best  after  all  —  Mr. 
Raymond,  of  the  "  New  York  Times  "  (formerly  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  the  State)  ;  Mr.  Olmsted,  the  indefatigable,  able, 
and  earnest  writer,  whom  to  describe  simply  as  an  Abolition 
ist  would  be  to  confound  with  ignorant  if  zealous,  unphilo- 
sophical,  and  impracticable  men  ;  Mr.  Dana,  of  the  "  Tri 
bune  ;  "  Mr.  Hnrlbut,  of  the  "  Times ; "  the  Editor  of  the 
"  Courier  des  Etats  Unis ; "  Mr.  Young,  of  the  "  Albion," 
which  is  the  only  English  journal  published  in  the  States  ; 
and  others.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  pleasant  conversation, 
though  every  one  differed  with  his  neighbor,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  as  soon  as  he  touched  on  politics.  There  was  talk  de 
omnibus  rebus  et  quibusdam  aliis,  such  as  Heenan  and  Sayers, 
Secession  and  Sumter,  the  press,  politicians,  New  York  life, 
and  so  on.  The  first  topic  occupied  a  larger  place  than  it 
was  entitled  to,  because  in  all  likelihood  the  sporting  editor  of 
one  of  the  papers  who  was  present  expressed,  perhaps,  some 
justifiable  feeling  in  reference  to  the  refusal  of  the  belt  to  the 


LITERARY   BREAKFAST.  29 

American.  All  admitted  the  courage  and  great  endurance  of 
his  antagonist,  but  seemed  convinced  that  Heenan,  if  not  the 
better  man,  was  at  least  the  victor  in  that  particular  contest. 
It  would  be  strange  to  see  the  great  tendency  of  Americans 
to  institute  comparisons  with  ancient  and  recognized  standards, 
if  it  were  not  that  they  are  adopting  the  natural  mode  of 
judging  of  their  own  capabilities.  The  nation  is  like  a  grow 
ing  lad  who  is  constantly  testing  his  powers  in  competition 
with  his  elders.  He  is  in  his  youth  and  nonage,  and  he  is 
calling  down  the  lanes  and  alleys  to  all  comers  to  look  at  his 
muscle,  to  run  against  or  to  fight  him.  It  is  a  sign  of  youth, 
not  a  proof  of  weakness,  though  it  does  offend  the  old  hands 
and  vex  the  veterans. 

Then  one  finds  that  Great  Britain  is  often  treated  very 
much  as  an  old  Peninsula  man  may  be  by  a  set  of  young 
soldiers  at  a  club.  He  is  no  doubt  a  very  gallant  fellow,  and 
has  done  very  fine  things  in  his  day,  and  he  is  listened  to  with 
respectful  endurance,  but  there  is  a  secret  belief  that  he  will 
never  do  anything  very  great  again. 

One  of  the  gentlemen  present  said  that  England  might  dis 
pute  the  right  of  the  United  States  Government  to  blockade 
the  ports  of  her  own  States,  to  which  she  was  entitled  to 
access  under  treaty,  and  might  urge  that  such  a  blockade  was 
not  justifiable ;  but  then,  it  was  argued,  that  the  President 
could  open  and  shut  ports  as  he  pleased ;  and  that  he  might 
close  the  Southern  ports  by  a  proclamation  in  the  nature  of 
an  Order  of  Council.  It  was  taken  for  granted  that  Great 
Britain  would  only  act  on  sordid  motives,  but  that  the  well 
known  affection  of  France  for  the  United  States  is  to  check 
the  selfishness  of  her  rival,  and  prevent  a  speedy  recognition. 


CHAPTER   V. 

Off  to  the   railway    station  —  Railway    carriages  —  Philadelphia  — 
Washington  —  Wi Hard's  Hotel  —  Mr.  Seward  —  North  and  South 

—  The  "  State  Department  "  at  Washington  —  President  Lincoln 

—  Dinner  at  Mr.  Seward's. 

AFTER  our  pleasant  breakfast  came  that  necessity  for 
activity  which  makes  such  meals  disguised  as  mere  light 
morning  repasts  take  their  revenge.  I  had  to  pack  up,  and 
1  am  bound  to  say  the  moral  aid  afforded  me  by  the  waiter, 
who  stood  with  a  sympathizing  expression  of  face,  and  looked 
on  as  I  wrestled  with  boots,  books,  and  great  coats,  was  of 
a  most  comprehensive  character.  At  last  I  conquered,  and 
at  six  o'clock  P.  M.  I  left  the  Clarendon,  and  was  conveyed 
over  the  roughest  and  most  execrable  pavements  through 
several  miles  of  unsympathetic,  gloomy,  dirty  streets,  and 
crowded  thoroughfares,  over  jaw-wrenching  street-railway 
tracks,  to  a  large  wooden  shed  covered  with  inscriptions  re 
specting  routes  and  destinations  on  the  bank  of  the  river, 
which  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  was  bordered  by  similar 
establishments,  where  my  baggage  was  deposited  in  the  mud. 
There  were  no  porters,  none  of  the  recognized  and  established 
aids  to  locomotion  to  which  we  are  accustomed  in  Europe, 
but  a  number  of  amateurs  divided  the  spoil,  and  carried  it 
into  the  offices,  whilst  I  was  directed  to  struggle  for  my  ticket 
in  another  little  wooden  box,  from  which  I  presently  received 
the  necessary  document,  full  of  the  dreadful  warnings  and  con 
ditions,  which  railway  companies  inflict  on  the  public  in  all 
free  countries. 

The  whole  of  my  luggage,  except  a  large  bag,  was  taken 
charge  of  by  a  man  at  the  New  York  side  of  the  ferry,  who 
"  checked  it  through  "  to  the  capital  —  giving  me  a  slip  of 
brass  with  a  number  corresponding  with  a  brass  ticket  for  each 
piece.  When  the  boat  arrived  at  the  stage  at  the  other  side 
of  the  Hudson,  in  my  innocence  I  called  for  a  porter  to  take 
my  bag.  The  passengers  were  moving  out  of  the  capacious 


RAILWAY  CARRIAGES.  —  PHILADELPHIA.  31 

ferry-boat  in  a  steady  stream,  and  the  steam  throat  and  bell  of 
the  engine  were  going  whilst  I  was  looking  for  my  porter ; 
but  at  last  a  gentleman  passing,  said,  "  I  guess  y'ill  remain 
here  a  considerable  time  before  y'ill  get  any  one  to  come  for 
that  bag  of  yours  ;"  and  taking  the  hint,  I  just  got  off  in  time 
to  stumble  into  a  long  box  on  wheels,  with  a  double  row  of 
most  uncomfortable  seats,  and  a  passage  down  the  middle, 
where  I  found  a  place  beside  Mr.  Sanford,  the  newly-ap 
pointed  United  States  Minister  to  Belgium,  who  was  kind 
enough  to  take  me  under  his  charge  to  Washington. 

The  night  was  closing  in  very  fast  as  the  train  started,  but 
such  glimpses  as  I  had  of  the  continuous  line  of  pretty- 
looking  villages  of  wooden  houses,  two  stories  high,  painted 
white,  each  with  its  Corinthian  portico,  gave  a  most  favorable 
impression  of  the  comfort  and  prosperity  of  the  people.  The 
rail  passed  through  the  main  street  of  most  of  these  hamlets 
and  villages,  and  the  bell  of  the  engine  was  tolled  to  warn  the 
inhabitants,  who  drew  up  on  the  sidewalks,  and  let  us  go  by. 
Soon  the  white  houses  faded  away  into  faint  blurred  marks 
on  the  black  ground  of  the  landscape,  or  twinkled  with  star- 
like  lights,  and  there  was  nothing  more  to  see.  The  passen 
gers  were  crowded  as  close  as  they  could  pack,  and  as  there 
was  an  immense  iron  stove  in  the  centre  of  the  car,  the  heat 
and  stuffiness  became  most  trying,  although  I  had  been 
undergoing  the  ordeal  of  the  stove-heated  New  York  houses 
for  nearly  a  week.  Once  a  minute,  at  least,  the  door  at 
either  end  of  the  carriage  was  opened,  and  then  closed  with 
a  sharp,  crashing  noise,  that  jarred  the  nerves,  and  effectually 
prevented  sleep.  It  generally  was  done  by  a  man  whose  sole 
object  seemed  to  be  to  walk  up  the  centre  of  the  carriage  in 
order  to  go  out  of  the  opposite  door  —  occasionally  it  was 
the  work  of  a  newspaper  boy,  with  a  sheaf  of  journals  and 
trashy  illustrated  papers  under  his  arm.  Now  and  then  it 
was  the  conductor ;  but  the  periodical  visitor  was  a  young 
gentleman  with  chain  and  rings,  who  bore  a  tray  before  him, 
and  solicited  orders  for  "  gum  drops,"  and  "  lemon  drops," 
which,  with  tobacco,  apples,  and  cakes,  were  consumed  in 
great  quantities  by  the  passengers 

At  ten  o'clock,  p.  M.,  we  crossed  the  river  by  a  ferry-boat  to 
Philadelphia,  and  drove  through  the  streets,  stopping  for  sup 
per  a  few  moments  at  the  La  Pierre  Hotel.  To  judge  from 
the  vast  extent  of  the  streets,  of  small,  low,  yet  snug-looking 
houses,  through  which  we  passed,  Philadelphia  must  contain 


32  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

in  comfort  the  largest  number  of  small  householders  of  any 
city  in  the  world.  At  the  other  terminus  of  the  rail,  to  which 
we  drove  in  a  carriage,  we  procured  for  a  small  sum,  a  dollar 
I  think,  berths  in  a  sleeping-car,  an  American  institution  of 
considerable  merit.  Unfortunately  a  party  of  prize-fighters 
had  a  mind  to  make  themselves  comfortable,  and  the  result 
was  anything  but  conducive  to  sleep.  They  had  plenty  of 
whiskey,  and  were  full  of  song  and  tight,  nor  was  it  possible 
to  escape  their  urgent  solicitations  "  to  take  a  drink,"  by 
feigning  the  soundest  sleep.  One  of  these,  a  big  man,  with 
a  broken  nose,  a  mellow  eye,  and  a  very  large  display  of 
rings,  jewels,  chains,  and  pins,  was  in  very  high  spirits,  and  in 
formed  us  he  was  "  Going  to  Washington  to  get  a  foreign  mis 
sion  from  Bill  Seward.  He  wouldn't  take  Paris,  as  he  didn't 
care  much  about  French  or  Frenchmen ;  but  he'd  just  like  to 
show  John  Bull  how  to  do  it ;  or  he'd  take  Japan  if  they  were 
very  pressing."  Another  told  us  he  was  "  Going  to  the  bosom 
of  Uncle  Abe  "  (meaning  the  President)  —  "  that  he  knew 
him  well  in  Kentucky  years  ago,  and  a  high-toned  gentleman 
he  was."  Any  attempts  to  persuade  them  to  retire  to  rest 
made  by  the  conductors  were  treated  with  sovereign  contempt ; 
but  at  last  whiskey  asserted  its  supremacy,  and  having  estab 
lished  the  point  that  they  "  would  not  sleep  unless  they 

pleased,"  they  slept  and  snored. 

At  six,  A.  M.,  we  were  roused  up  by  the  arrival  of  the  train 
at  Washington,  having  crossed  great  rivers  and  traversed  cities 
without  knowing  it  during  the  night.  I  looked  out  and  saw  a 
vast  mass  of  white  marble  towering  above  us  on  the  left, 
stretching  out  in  colonnaded  porticoes,  and  long  flanks  of  win 
dowed  masonry,  and  surmounted  by  an  unfinished  cupola,  from 
which  scaffold  and  cranes  raised  their  black  arms.  This  was 
the  Capitol.  To  the  right  was  a  cleared  space  of  mud,  sand, 
and  fields,  studded  with  wooden  sheds  and  huts,  beyond  which, 
again,  could  be  seen  rudimentary  streets  of.  small  red  brick 
houses,  and  some  church-spires  above  them. 

Emerging  from  the  station,  we  found  a  vociferous  crowd 
of  blacks,  who  were  the  hackney-coachmen  of  the  place ;  but 
Mr.  Sanford  had  his  carriage  in  waiting,  and  drove  me  straight 
to  Willard's  Hotel  where  he  consigned  me  to  the  landlord  at 
the  bar.  Our  route  lay  through  Pennsylvania  Avenue  —  a 
street  of  much  breadth  and  length,  lined  with  amianthus  trees, 
each  in  a  white-washed  wooden  sentry-box,  and  by  most  irreg 
ularly-built  houses  in  all  kinds  of  material,  from  deal  plank 


WILLARD'S   HOTEL.  33 

to  marble  —  of  all  heights,  and  every  sort  of  trade.  Few 
shop-windows  were  open,  and  the  principal  population  con 
sisted  of  blacks,  who  were  moving  about  on  domestic  affairs. 
At  one  end  of  the  long  vista  there  is  the  Capitol ;  and  at  the 
other,  the  Treasury  buildings  —  a  fine  block  in  marble,  with 
the  usual  American  classical  colonnades. 

Close  to  these  rises  the  great  pile  of  Willard's  Hotel,  now- 
occupied  by  applicants  for  office,  and  by  the  members  of  the 
newly-assembled  Congress.  It  is  a  quadrangular  mass  of 
rooms,  six  stories  high,  and  some  hundred  yards  square  ;  and 
it  probably  contains  at  this  moment  more  scheming,  plotting, 
planning  heads,  more  aching  and  joyful  hearts,  than  any 
building  of  the  same'  size  ever  held  in  the  world.  I  was 
ushered  into  a  bedroom  which  had  just  been  vacated  by 
some  candidate  —  whether  he  succeeded  or  not  I  cannot  tell, 
but  if  his  testimonials  spoke  truth,  he  ought  to  have  been 
selected  at  once  for  the  highest  office.  The  room  was  littered 
with  printed  copies  of  letters  testifying  that  J.  Smith,  of  Hart 
ford,  Conn.,  was  about  the  ablest,  honestest,  cleverest,  and 
best  man  the  writers  ever  knew.  Up  and  down  the  long 
passages  doors  were  opening  and  shutting  for  men  with  pa 
pers  bulging  out  of  their  pockets,  who  hurried  as  if  for  their 
life  in  and  out,  and  the  building  almost  shook  with  the  tread 
of  the  candidature,  which  did  not  always  in  its  present  aspect 
justify  the  correctness  of  the  original  appellation. 

It  was  a  remarkable  sight,  and  difficult  to  understand  un 
less  seen.  From  California,  Texas,  from  the  Indian  Reserves, 
and  the  Mormon  Territory,  from  Nebraska,  as  from  the  re 
motest  borders  of  Minnesota,  from  every  portion  of  the  vast 
territories  of  the  Union,  except  from  the  Seceded  States,  the 
triumphant  Republicans  had  winged  their  way  to  the  prey. 

There  were  crowds  in  the  hall  through  which  one  could 
scarce  make  his  way — the  writing-room  was  crowded,  and 
the  rustle  of  pens  rose  to  a  little  breeze  —  the  smokii>g-room, 
the  bar,  the  barber's,  the  reception-room,  the  ladies'  drawing- 
room  —  all  were  crowded.  At  present  not  less  than  2,500 
people  dine  in  the  public  room  every  day.  On  the  kitchen 
floor  there  is  a  vast  apartment,  a  hall  without  carpets  or  any 
furniture  but  plain  chairs  and  tables,  which  are  ranged  in 
close  rows,  at  which  flocks  of  people  are  feeding,  or  discours 
ing,  or  from  which  they  are  flying  away.  The  servants  never 
cease  shoving  the  chairs  to  and  fro  with  a  harsh  screeching 
noise  over  the  floor,  so  that  one  can  scarce  hear  his  neighbor 
2* 


34:  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

speak.  If  he  did,  he  would  probably  hear  as  I  did,  at  this 
very  hotel,  a  man  order  breakfast,  "  Black  tea  and  toast, 
scrambled  eggs,  fresh  spring  shad,  wild  pigeon,  pigs'  feet,  two 
robins  on  toast,  oysters,"  and  a  quantity  of  breads  and  cakes 
of  various  denominations.  The  waste  consequent  on  such 
orders  is  enormous  —  and  the  ability  required  to  conduct 
these  enormous  establishments  successfully  is  expressed  by 
the  common  phrase  in  the  States,  "  Brown  is  a  clever  man, 
but  he  can't  manage  an  hotel."  The  tumult,  the  miscella 
neous  nature  of  the  company  —  my  friends  the  prize-fighters 
are  already  in  possession  of  the  doorway  —  the  heated,  muggy 
rooms,  not  to  speak  of  the  great  abominableness  of  the  pas 
sages  and  halls,  despite  a  most  liberal  provision  of  spittoons, 
conduce  to  render  these  institutions  by  no  means  agreeable  to 
a  European.  Late  in  the  day  I  succeeded  in  obtaining  a 
sitting-room  with  a  small  bedroom  attached,  which  made  me 
somewhat  more  independent  and  comfortable  —  but  you  must 
pay  highly  for  any  departure  from  the  routine  life  of  the 
natives.  Ladies  enjoy  a  handsome  drawing-room,  with  piano, 
sofas,  and  easy  chairs,  all  to  themselves. 

I  dined  at  Mr.  Sanford's,  where  I  was  introduced  to  Mr. 
Seward,  Secretary  of  State  ;  Mr.  Truman  Smith,  an  ex-sena 
tor,  much  respected  among  the  Republican  party;  Mr.  An 
thony,  a  senator  of  the  United  States,  a  journalist,  a  very 
intelligent-looking  man,  with  an  Israelitish  cast  of  face  ;  Col 
onel  Foster  of  the  Illinois  railway,  of  reputation  in  the  States 
as  a  geologist ;  and  one  or  two  more  gentlemen.  Mr.  Seward 
is  a  slight,  middle-sized  man,  of  feeble  build,  with  the  stoop 
contracted  from  sedentary  habits  and  application  to  the  desk, 
and  has  a  peculiar  attitude  when  seated,  which  immediately 
attracts  attention.  A  well-formed  and  large  head  is  placed  on 
a  long  slender  neck,  and  projects  over  the  chest  in  an  argu 
mentative  kind  of  way,  as  if  the  keen  eyes  were  seeking  for 
an  adversary ;  the  mouth  is  remarkably  flexible,  large  but 
well-formed,  the  nose  prominent  and  aquiline,  the  eyes  secret, 
but  penetrating,  and  lively  with  humor  of  some  kind  twin 
kling  about  them ;  the  brow  bold  and  broad,  but  not  remarka 
bly  elevated  ;  the  white  hair  silvery  and  fine  —  a  subtle,  quick 
man,  rejoicing  in  power,  given  to  perorate  and  to  oracular  utter 
ances,  fond  of  badinage,  bursting  with  the  importance  of  state 
mysteries,  and  with  the  dignity  of  directing  the  foreign  policy 
of  the  greatest  country  —  as  all  Americans  think  —  in  the 
world.  After  dinner  he  told  some  stories  of  the  pressure  on 


THE  SECRETARY   OF  STATE.  35 

the  President  for  place,  which  very  much  amused  the  guests 
who  knew  the  men,  and  talked  freely  and  pleasantly  of  many 
things  —  stating,  however,  few  facts  positively.  In  reference 
to  an  assertion  in  a  New  York  paper,  that  orders  had  been 
given  to  evacuate  Sumter,  "  That,"  he  said,  "  is  a  plain  lie  — 
no  such  orders  have  been  given.  We  will  give  up  nothing 
we  have  —  abandon  nothing  that  has  been  intrusted  to  us.  If 
people  would  only  read  these  statements  by  the  light  of  the 
President's  inaugural,  they  would  not  be  deceived."  He 
wanted  no  extra  session  of  Congress.  "  History  tells  us  that 
kings  who  call  extra  parliaments  lose  their  heads,"  and  he 
informed  the  company  he  had  impressed  the  President  with 
his  historical  parallels. 

All  through  this  conversation  his  tone  was  that  of  a  man 
very  sanguine,  and  with  a  supreme  contempt  for  those  who 
thought  there  was  anything  serious  in  secession.  "  Why," 
said  he,  "  I  myself,  my  brothers,  and  sisters,  have  been  all 
secessionists  —  we  seceded  from  home  when  we  were  young, 
but  we  all  went  back  to  it  sooner  or  later.  These  States  will 
all  come  back  in  the  same  way."  I  doubt  if  he  was  ever  in  the 
South  ;  but  he  affirmed  that  the  state  of  living  and  of  society 
there  was  something  like  that  in  the  State  of  New  York  sixty 
or  seventy  years  ago.  In  the  North  all  was  life,  enterprise, 
industry,  mechanical  skill.  In  the  South  there  was  depend 
ence  on  black  labor,  and  an  idle  extravagance  which  was  mis 
taken  for  elegant  luxury  —  tumble-down  old  hackney-coaches, 
such  as  had  not  been  seen  north  of  the  Potomac  for  half  a 
century,  harness  never  cleaned,  ungroomed  horses,  worked  at 
the  mill  one  day  and  sent  to  town  the  next,  badly  furnished 
houses,  bad  cookery,  imperfect  education.  No  parallel  could 
be  drawn  between  them  and  the  Northern  States  at  all.  "  You 
are  all  very  angry,"  he  said,  "  about  the  Merrill  tariff.  You 
must,  however,  let  us  be  best  judges  of  our  own  affairs.  If 
we  judge  rightly,  you  have  no  right  to  complain  ;  if  we  judge 
wrongly,  we  shall  soon  be  taught  by  the  results,  and  shall 
correct  our  error.  It  is  evident  that  if  the  Morrill  tariff  ful 
fils  expectations,  and  raises  a  revenue,  British  manufacturers 
suffer  nothing,  and  we  suffer  nothing,  for  the  revenue  is  raised 
here,  and  trade  is  not  injured.  If  the  tariff  fails  to  create 
a  revenue,  we  shall  be  driven  to  modify  or  repeal  it." 

The  company  addressed  him  as  "  Governor,"  which  led  to 
Mr.  Seward's  mentioning  that  when  he  was  in  England  he 
was  induced  to  put  his  name  down  with  that  prefix  in  a  hotel 


36  MY   DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

book,  and  caused  a  discussion  among  the  waiters  as  to  whether 
he  was  the  "  Governor  "  of  a  prison  or  of  a  public  company. 
I  hope  the  great  people  of  England  treated  Mr.  Seward  with 
the  attention  due  to  his  position,  as  he  would  assuredly  feel 
and  resent  very  much  any  slight  on  the  part  of  those  in  high 
places.  From  what  he  said,  however,  I  infer  that  he  was 
satisfied  with  the  reception  he  had  met  in  London.  Like 
most  Americans  who  can  afford  it,  he  has  been  up  the  Nile. 
The  weird  old  stream  has  great  fascinations  for  the  people  of 
the  Mississippi  —  as  far  at  least  as  the  first  cataract. 

March  27th.  —  This  morning,  after  breakfast,  Mr.  Sanford 
called,  according  to  promise,  and  took  me  to  the  State  depart 
ment.  It  is  a  very  humble  —  in  fact,  dingy  —  mansion,  two 
stories  high,  and  situated  at  the  end  of  the  magnificent  line  of 
colonnade  in  white  marble,  called  the  Treasury,  which  is  here 
after  to  do  duty  as  the  head-quarters  of  nearly  all  the  public 
departments.  People  familiar  with  Downing  Street,  how 
ever,  cannot  object  to  the  dinginess  of  the  bureaux  in  which 
the  foreign  and  state  affairs  of  the  American  Republic  are 
transacted.  A  flight  of  steps  leads  to  the  hall-door,  on  which 
an  announcement  in  writing  is  affixed,  to  indicate  the  days  of 
reception  for  the  various  classes  of  persons  who  have  business 
with  the  Secretary  of  State  ;  in  the  hall,  on  the  right  and  left, 
are  small  rooms,  with  the  names  of  the  different  officers  on  the 
doors  —  most  of  them  persons  of  importance  ;  half-way  in  the 
hall  a  flight  of  stairs  conducts  us  to  a  similar  corridor,  rather 
dark,  with  doors  on  each  side  opening  into  the  bureaux  of  the 
chief  clerks.  All  the  appointments  were  very  quiet,  and  one 
would  see  much  more  bustle  in  the  passages  of  a  Poor  Law 
Board  or  a  parish  vestry. 

Jn  a  moderately  sized,  but  very  comfortable,  apartment, 
surrounded  with  book-shelves,  and  ornamented  with  a  few  en 
gravings,  we  found  the  Secretary  of  State  seated  at  his  table, 
and  enjoying  a  cigar;  he  received  me  with  great  courtesy  and 
kindness,  arid  after  a  time  said  he  would  take  occasion  to  pre 
sent  me  to  the  President,  who  was  to  give  audience  that  day 
to  the  minister  of  the  new  kingdom  of  Italy,  who  had  hitherto 
only  represented  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia. 

1  have  already  described  Mr.  Seward's  personal  appear 
ance  ;  his  son,  to  whom  he  introduced  me,  is  the  Assistant- 
Secretary  of  State,  arid  is  editor  or  proprietor  of  a  journal  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  which  has  a  reputation  for  ability  and 
fairness.  Mr.  Frederick  Seward  is  a  slight  delicate-looking 


PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  37 

man,  with  a  high  forehead,  thoughtful  brow,  dark  eyes,  and 
amiable  expression  ;  his  manner  is  very  placid  and  modest, 
and,  if  not  reserved,  he  is  by  no  means  loquacious.  As  we 
were  speaking,  a  carriage  drove  up  to  the  door,  and  Mr.  Sew- 
ard  exclaimed  to  his  father,  with  something  like  dismay  in  his 
voice,  "  Here  comes  the  Chevalier  in  full  uniform  !  "  —  and  in 
a  few  seconds  in  effect  the  Chevalier  Bertinatti  made  his  ap 
pearance,  in  cocked  hat,  white  gloves,  diplomatic  suit  of  blue 
and  silver  lace,  sword,  sash,  and  ribbon  of  the  cross  of  Savoy. 
I  thought  there  was  a  quiet  smile  on  Mr.  Seward's  face  as  he 
saw  his  brilliant  companion,  who  contrasted  so  strongly  with 
the  more  than  republican  simplicity  of  his  own  attire.  "  Fred., 
do  you  take  Mr.  Russell  round  to  the  President's,  whilst  I  go 
with  the  Chevalier.  We  will  meet  at  the  White  House." 
We  accordingly  set  out  through  a  private  door  leading  to  the 
grounds,  and  within  a  few  seconds  entered  the  hall  of  the 
moderate  mansion,  White  House,  which  has  very  much  the 
air  of  a  portion  of  a  bank  or  public  office,  being  provided  with 
glass  doors  and  plain  heavy  chairs  and  forms.  The  domestic 
who  was  in  attendance  was  dressed  like  any  ordinary  citizen, 
and  seemed  perfectly  indifferent  to  the  high  position  of  the 
great  personage  with  whom  he  conversed,  when  Mr.  Seward 
asked  him,  "  Where  is  the  President  ?  "  Passing  through  one 
of  the  doors  on  the  left,  we  entered  a  handsome  spacious  room, 
richly  and  rather  gorgeously  furnished,  and  rejoicing  in  a  kind 
of  "  demi-jour"  which  gave  increased  effect  to  the  gilt  chairs 
and  ormolu  ornaments.  Mr.  Seward  and  the  Chevalier  stood 
in  the  centre  of  the  room,  whilst  his  son  and  I  remained  a 
little  on  one  side  :  "  For,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  "  you  are  not  to 
be  supposed  to  be  here." 

Soon  afterwards  there  entered,  with  a  shambling,  loose, 
irregular,  almost  unsteady  gait,  a  tall,  lank,  lean  man,  consid 
erably  over  six  feet  in  height,  with  stooping  shoulders,  long 
pendulous  arms,  terminating  in  hands  of  extraordinary  dimen 
sions,  which,  however,  were  far  exceeded  in  proportion  by  his 
feet.  He  was  dressed  in  an  ill-fitting,  wrinkled  suit  of  black, 
which  put  one  in  mind  of  an  undertaker's  uniform  at  a  funeral ; 
round  his  neck  a  rope  of  black  silk  was  knotted  in  a  large 
bulb,  with  flying  ends  projecting  beyond  the  collar  of  his  coat ; 
his  turned-down  shirt-collar  disclosed  a  sinewy  muscular  yel 
low  neck,  and  above  that,  nestling  in  a  great  black  mass  of 
hair,  bristling  and  compact  like  a  ruff  of  mourning  pins,  rose 
the  strange  quaint  face  and  head,  covered  with  its  thatch  of 


38  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

wild  republican  hair,  of  President  Lincoln.  The  impression 
produced  by  the  size  of  his  extremities,  and  by  his  flapping 
and  wide  projecting  ears,  may  be  removed  by  the  appearance 
of  kindliness,  sagacity,  and  the  awkward  bonhommie  of  his 
face  ;  the  mouth  is  absolutely  prodigious  ;  the  lips,  straggling 
and  extending  almost  from  one  line  of  black  beard  to  the 
other,  are  only  kept  in  order  by  two  deep  furrows  from  the 
nostril  to  the  chin;  the  nose  itself — a  prominent  organ  — 
stands  out  from  the  face,  with  an  inquiring,  anxious  air,  as 
though  it  were  sniffing  for  some  good  thing  in  the  wind  ;  the 
eyes  dark,  full,  and  deeply  set,  are  penetrating,  but  full  of  an 
expression  which  almost  amounts  to  tenderness  ;  and  above 
them  projects  the  shaggy  brow,  running  into  the  small  hard 
frontal  space,  the  development  of  which  can  scarcely  be  esti 
mated  accurately,  owing  to  the  irregular  flocks  of  thick  hair 
carelessly  brushed  across  it.  One  would  say  that,  although 
the  mouth  was  made  to  enjoy  a  joke,  it  could  also  utter  the 
severest  sentence  which  the  head  could  dictate,  but  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  would  be  ever  more  willing  to  temper  justice  with 
mercy,  and  to  enjoy  what  he  considers  the  amenities  of  life, 
than  to  take  a  harsh  view  of  men's  nature  and  of  the  world, 
and  to  estimate  things  in  an  ascetic  or  puritan  spirit.  A  per 
son  who  met  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  street  would  not  take  him  to 
be  what  —  according  to  the  usages  of  European  society  —  is 
called  a  "  gentleman  ;  "  and,  indeed,  since  I  came  to  the  United 
States,  I  have  heard  more  disparaging  allusions  made  by 
Americans  to  him  on  that  account  than  I  could  have  expected 
among  simple  republicans,  where  all  should  be  equals  ;  but,  at 
the  same  time,  it  would  not  be  possible  for  the  most  indifferent 
observer  to  pass  him  in  the  street  without  notice. 

As  he  advanced  through  the  room,  he  evidently  controlled 
a  desire  to  shake  hands  all  round  with  everybody,  and  smiled 
good-humoredly  till  he  was  suddenly  brought  up  by  the  staid 
deportment  of  Mr.  Seward,  and  by  the  profound  diplomatic 
bows  of  the  Chevalier  Bertinatti.  Then,  indeed,  he  suddenly 
jerked  himself  back,  and  stood  in  front  of  the  two  ministers, 
with  his  body  slightly  drooped  forward,  and  his  liands  behind 
his  back,  his  knees  touching,  and  his  feet  apart.  Mr.  Sew 
ard  formally  presented  the  minister,  whereupon  the  Presi 
dent  made  a  prodigiously  violent  demonstration  of  his  body  in 
a  bow  which  had  almost  the  effect  of  a  smack  in  its  rapidity 
and  abruptness,  and,  recovering  himself,  proceeded  to  give  his 
utmost  attention,  whilst  the  Chevalier,  with  another  bow,  read 


THE  "  TIMES."  —  DINNER  AT   MR.   SEWARD'S.  39 

from  a  paper  a  long  address  in  presenting  the  royal  letter 
accrediting  him  as  ''minister  resident;"  and  when  he  said  that 
"the  king  desired  to  give,  under  your  enlightened  administra 
tion,  all  possible  strength  and  extent  to  those  sentiments  of 
frank  sympathy  which  do  not  cease  to  be  exhibited  every 
moment  between  the  two  peoples,  and  whose  origin  dates 
back  as  far  as  the  exertions  which  have  presided  over  their 
common  destiny  as  self-governing  and  free  nations,"  the 
President  gave  another  bow  still  more  violent,  as  much  as  to 
accept  the  allusion. 

The  minister  forthwith  handed  his  letter  to  the  President, 
who  gave  it  into  the  custody  of  Mr.  Sevvard,  and  then,  dipping 
his  hand  into  his  coat-pocket,  Mr.  Lincoln  drew  out  a  sheet 
of  paper,  from  which  he  read  his  reply,  the  most  remarkable 
part  of  which  was  his  doctrine  "  that  the  United  States  were 
bound  by  duty  not  to  interfere  with  the  differences  of  foreign 
governments  and  countries."  After  some  words  of  compli 
ment,  the  President  shook  hands  with  the  minister,  who  soon 
afterwards  retired.  Mr.  Seward  then  took  me  by  the  hand 
and  said  —  "Mr.  President,  allow  me  to  present  to  you  Mr. 
Russell,  of  the  London  '  Times.'  "  On  which  Mr.  Lincoln  put 
out  his  hand  in  a  very  friendly  manner,  and  said,  "  Mr.  Rus 
sell,  I  am  very  glad  to  make  your  acquaintance,  and  to  see 
you  in  this  country.  The  London  '  Times '  is  one  of  the 
greatest  powers  in  the  world,  —  in  fact,  I  don't  know  anything 
which  has  much  more  power,  —  except  perhaps  the  Missis 
sippi.  I  am  glad  to  know  you  as  its  minister."  Conversation 
ensued  for  some  minutes,  which  the  President  enlivened  by 
two  or  three  peculiar  little  sallies,  and  I  left  agreeably  im 
pressed  with  his  shrewdness,  humor,  and  natural  sagacity. 

In  the  evening  I  dined  with  Mr.  Seward,  in  company  with 
his  son,  Mr.  Seward,  junior,  Mr.  Sanford,  and  a  quaint,  natural 
specimen  of  an  American  rustic  lawyer,  who  was  going  to 
Brussels  as  Secretary  of  Legation.  His  chief,  Mr.  Sanford, 
did  not  appear  altogether  happy  when  introduced  to  his 
secretary,  for  he  found  that  he  had  a  very  limited  knowledge 
(if  any)  of  French,  and  of  other  things  which  it  is  generally 
considered  desirable  that  secretaries  should  know. 

Very  naturally,  conversation  turned  on  politics.  Although 
no  man  can  foresee  the  nature  of  the  crisis  which  is  coming,  nor 
the  mode  in  which  it  is  to  be  encountered,  the  faith  of  men  like 
Mr.  Sanford  and  Mr.  Seward  in  the  ultimate  success  of  their 
principles,  and  in  the  integrity  of  the  Republic,  is  very  re- 


40  MY   DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

markable  ;  and  the  boldness  of  their  language  in  reference  to 
foreign  powers  almost  amounts  to  arrogance  and  menace,  if 
not  to  temerity.  Mr.  Sevvard  asserted  that  the  Ministers  of 
England  or  of  France  had  no  right  to  make  any  allusion  to  the 
civil  war  which  appeared  imminent  ;  and  that  the  Southern 
Commissioners  who  had  been  sent  abroad  could  not  be  re 
ceived  by  the  Government  of  any  foreign  power,  officially  or 
otherwise,  even  to  hand  in  a  document  or  to  make  a  represen 
tation,  without  incurring  the  risk  of  breaking  off  relations 
with  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  As  regards  the 
great  object  of  public  curiosity,  the  relief  of  Fort  Sumter,  Mr. 
Seward  maintains  a  profound  silence,  beyond  the  mere 
declaration,  made  with  a  pleasant  twinkle  of  the  eye,  that 
"  the  whole  policy  of  the  Government,  on  that  and  other 
questions,  is  put  forth  in  the  President's  inaugural,  from  which 
there  will  be  no  deviation.  Turning  to  the  inaugural  message, 
however,  there  is  no  such  very  certain  indication,  as  Mr.  Sew 
ard  pretends  to  discover,  of  the  course  to  be  pursued  by  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  the  cabinet.  To  an  outside  observer,  like  my 
self,  it  seems  as  if  they  were  waiting  for  events  to  develop 
themselves,  and  rested  their  policy  rather  upon  acts  that  had 
occurred,  than  upon  any  definite  principle  designed  to  control 
or  direct  the  future. 

I  should  here  add  that  Mr.  Seward  spoke  in  high  terms  of 
the  ability,  dexterity,  and  personal  qualities  of  Mr.  Jefferson 
Davis,  and  declared  his  belief  that  but  for  him  the  Secession 
movement  never  could  have  succeeded  as  far  as  it  has  gone, 
and  would,  in  all  probability,  indeed,  have  never  taken  place 
at  all.  After  dinner  cigars  were  introduced,  and  a  quiet  little 
rubber  of  whist  followed.  The  Secretary  is  given  to  expatiate 
at  large,  and  told  us  many  anecdotes  of  foreign  travel ;  —  it 
I  am  not  doing  him  injustice,  I  would  say  further,  that  he 
remembers  his  visit  to  England,  and  the  attention  he  received 
there,  with  peculiar  satisfaction.  He  cannot  be  found  fault 
with  because  he  has  formed  a  most  exalted  notion  of  the 
superior  intelligence,  virtue,  happiness,  and  prosperity  of  his 
own  people.  He  said  that  it  would  not  be  proper  for  him 
to  hold  any  communication  with  the  Southern  Commissioners 
then  in  Washington ;  which  rather  surprised  me,  after  what  1 
had  heard  from  their  friend,  Mr.  Banks.  On  returning  to  my 
hotel,  I  found  a  card  from  the  President,  inviting  me  to  dinner 
the  following  day. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

A  state  dinner  at  the  White  House  —  Mrs.  Lincoln  —  The  Cabinet 
Ministers  —  A  newspaper  correspondent  —  Good  Friday  at  Wash 
ington. 

March  2Sth.  —  I  was  honored  to-day  by  visits  from  a  great 
number  of  Members  of  Congress,  journalists,  and  others. 
Judging  from  the  expressions  of  most  of  the  Washington 
people,  they  would  gladly  see  a  Southern  Cabinet  installed  in 
their  city.  The  cold  shoulder  is  given  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  and 
all  kinds  of  stories  and  jokes  are  circulated  at  his  expense. 
People  take  particular  pleasure  in  telling  how  he  came  tow 
ards  the  seat  of  his  Government  disguised  in  a  Scotch  cap 
and  cloak,  whatever  that  may  mean. 

In  the  evening  I  repaired  to  the  White  House.  The  ser 
vant  who  took  my  hat  and  coat  was  particularly  inquisitive  as 
to  my  name  and  condition  in  life ;  and  when  he  heard  I  was 
not  a  minister,  he  seemed  inclined  to  question  my  right  to  be 
there  at  all :  "  for,"  said  he,  "  there  are  none  but  members  of 
the  cabinet,  and  their  wives  and  daughters,  dining  here  to 
day."  Eventually  he  relaxed,  —  instructed  me  how  to  place 
my  hat  so  that  it  would  be  exposed  to  no  indignity,  and  in 
formed  me  that  I  was  about  to  participate  in  a  prandial  enjoy 
ment  of  no  ordinary  character.  There  was  no  parade  or  dis 
play,  no  announcement,  —  no  gilded  staircase,  with  its  liveried 
heralds,  transmitting  and  translating  one's  name  from  landing 
to  landing.  From  the  unpretending  ante-chamber,  a  walk 
across  the  lofty  hall  led  us  to  the  reception-room,  which  was 
the  same  as  that  in  which  the  President  held  his  interview 
yesterday. 

Mrs.  Lincoln  was  already  seated  to  receive  her  guests. 
She  is  of  the  middle  age  and  height,  of  a  plumpness  degen 
erating  to  the  embonpoint  natural  to  her  years ;  her  features 
are  plain,  her  nose  and  mouth  of  an  ordinary  type,  and  her 
manners  and  appearance  homely,  stiffened,  however,  by  the 
consciousness  that  her  position  requires  her  to  be  something 
more  than  plain  Mrs.  Lincoln,  the  wife  of  the  Illinois  lawyer ; 


42  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

she  is  profuse  in  the  introduction  of  the  word  "sir"  in  every 
sentence,  which  is  now  almost  an  Americanism  confined  to 
certain  classes,  although  it  was  once  as  common  in  England. 
Her  dress  I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe,  though  it  was  very 
gorgeous  and  highly  colored.  She  handled  a  fan  with  much 
energy,  displaying  a  round,  well-proportioned  arm,  and  was 
adorned  with  some  simple  jewelry.  Mrs.  Lincoln  struck  ine 
as  being  desirous  of  making  herself  agreeable ;  and  I  own  I 
was  agreeably  disappointed,  as  the  Secessionist  ladies  at 
Washington  had  been  amusing  themselves  by  anecdotes  which 
could  scarcely  have  been  founded  on  fact. 

Several  of  the  Ministers  had  already  arrived ;  by  and  by 
all  had  come,  and  the  party  only  waited  for  General  Scott, 
who  seemed  to  be  the  representative  man  in  Washington  of 
the  monarchical  idea,  and  to  absorb  some  of  the  feeling  which 
is  lavished  on  the  pictures  and  memory,  if  not  on  the  monu 
ment,  of  Washington.  Whilst  we  were  waiting,  Mr.  Seward 
took  me  round,  and  introduced  me  to  the  Ministers,  and  to 
their  wives  and  daughters,  among  the  latter,  Miss  Chase,  who 
is  very  attractive,  agreeable,  and  sprightly.  Her  father,  the 
Finance  Minister,  struck  me  as  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
and  distinguished  persons  in  the  whole  assemblage,  —  tall,  of 
a  good  presence,  with  a  well-formed  head,  fine  forehead,  arid 
a  face  indicating  energy  and  power.  There  is  a  peculiar 
droop  and  motion  of  the  lid  of  one  eye,  which  seems  to  have 
suffered  from  some  injury,  that  detracts  from  the  agreeable 
effect  of  his  face ;  but,  on  the  whole,  he  is  one  who  would  not 
pass  quite  unnoticed  in  a  European  crowd  of  the  same  descrip 
tion. 

In  the  whole  assemblage  there  was  not  a  scrap  of  lace  or 
a  piece  of  ribbon,  except  the  gorgeous  epaulettes  of  an  old 
naval  officer  who  had  served  against  us  in  the  last  war,  and 
who  represented  some  branch  of  the  naval  department.  Nor 
were  the  Ministers  by  any  means  remarkable  for  their  per 
sonal  appearance. 

Mr.  Cameron,  the  Secretary  of  War,  a  slight  man,  above 
the  middle  height,  with  gray  hair,  deep-set  keen  gray  eyes, 
and  a  thin  mouth,  gave  me  the  idea  of  a  person  of  ability  and 
adroitness.  His  colleague,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  a 
small  man,  with  a  great  long  gray  beard  and  spectacles,  did 
not  look  like  one  of  much  originality  or  ability;  but  people 
who  know  Mr.  Welles  declare  that  he  is  possessed  of  admin 
istrative  power,  although  they  admit  that  hi*,  does  not  know 


AMERICAN  MINISTERS.  43 

the  stem  from  the  stern  of  a  ship,  and  are  in  doubt  whether 
he  ever  saw  the  sea  in  his  life.  Mr.  Smith,  the  Minister  of 
the  Interior,  is  a  bright-eyed,  smart  (I  use  the  word  in  the 
English  sense)  gentleman,  with  the  reputation  of  being  one 
of  the  most  conservative  members  of  the  cabinet.  Mr.  Blair, 
the  Postmaster- General,  is  a  person  of  much  greater  in 
fluence  than  his  position  would  indicate.  He  has  the  repu 
tation  of  being  one  of  the  most  determined  Republicans  in  the 
Ministry  ;  but  he  held  peculiar  notions  with  reference  to  the 
black  and  the  white  races,  which,  if  carried  out,  would  not  by 
any  means  conduce  to  the  comfort  or  happiness  of  free  negroes 
in  the  United  States.  He  is  a  tall,  lean  man,  with  a  hard, 
Scotch,  practical-looking  head  —  an  anvil  for  ideas  to  be 
hammered  on.  His  eyes  are  small  and  deeply  set,  and  have 
a  rat-like  expression  ;  and  he  speaks  with  caution,  as  though 
he  weighed  every  word  before  he  uttered  it.  The  last  of  the 
Ministers  is  Mr.  Bates,  a  stout,  thick-set,  common-looking 
man,  with  a  large  beard,  who  fills  the  office  of  Attorney- 
General.  Some  of  the  gentlemen  were  in  evening  dress  ; 
others  wore  black  frock-coats,  which  it  seems,  as  in  Turkey, 
are  considered  to  be  en  regie  at  a  Republican  Ministerial 
dinner. 

In  the  conversation  which  occurred  before  dinner,  I  was 
amused  to  observe  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  used 
the  anecdotes  for  which  he  is  famous.  Where  men  bred  in 
courts,  accustomed  to  the  world,  or  versed  in  diplomacy,  would 
use  some  subterfuge,  or  would  make  a  polite  speech,  or  give  a 
shrug  of  the  shoulders  as  the  means  of  getting  out  of  an  em 
barrassing  position,  Mr.  Lincoln  raises  a  laugh  by  some  bold 
west-country  anecdote,  and  moves  off  in  the  cloud  of  merriment 
produced  by  his  joke.  Thus,  when  Mr.  Bates  was  remon 
strating  apparently  against  the  appointment  of  some  indiffer 
ent  lawyer  to  a  place  of  judicial  importance,  the  President 
interposed  with,  "  Come  now,  Bates,  he's  not  half  as  bad  as 
you  think.  Besides  that,  I  must  tell  you,  he  did  me  a  good 
turn  long  ago.  When  I  took  to  the  law,  I  was  going  to  court 
one  morning,  with  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  of  bad  road 
before  me,  and  I  had  no  horse.  The  judge  overtook  me  in 
his  wagon.  '  Hollo,  Lincoln !  Are  you  not  going  to  the 
court-house  ?  Come  in,  and  I'll  give  you  a  seat.'  Well,  I 
got  in,  and  the  judge  went  on  reading  his  papers.  Presently 
the  wagon  struck  a  stump  on  one  side  of  the  road  ;  then  it 
hopped  off  to  the  other.  I  looked  out,  and  I  saw  the  driver 


42  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

she  is  profuse  in  the  introduction  of  the  word  "sir"  in  every 
sentence,  which  is  now  almost  an  Americanism  confined  to 
certain  classes,  although  it  was  once  as  common  in  England. 
Her  dress  I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe,  though  it  was  very 
gorgeous  and  highly  colored.  She  handled  a  fan  with  much 
energy,  displaying  a  round,  well-proportioned  arm,  and  was 
adorned  with  some  simple  jewelry.  Mrs.  Lincoln  struck  me 
as  being  desirous  of  making  herself  agreeable  ;  and  I  own  I 
was  agreeably  disappointed,  as  the  Secessionist  ladies  at 
Washington  had  been  amusing  themselves  by  anecdotes  which 
could  scarcely  have  been  founded  on  fact. 

Several  of  the  Ministers  had  already  arrived ;  by  and  by 
all  had  come,  and  the  party  only  waited  for  General  Scott, 
who  seemed  to  be  the  representative  man  in  Washington  of 
the  monarchical  idea,  and  to  absorb  some  of  the  feeling  which 
is  lavished  on  the  pictures  and  memory,  if  not  on  the  monu 
ment,  of  Washington.  Whilst  we  were  waiting,  Mr.  Seward 
took  me  round,  and  introduced  me  to  the  Ministers,  and  to 
their  wives  and  daughters,  among  the  latter,  Miss  Chase,  who 
is  very  attractive,  agreeable,  and  sprightly.  Her  father,  the 
Finance  Minister,  struck  me  as  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
and  distinguished  persons  in  the  whole  assemblage,  —  tall,  of 
a  good  presence,  with  a  well-formed  head,  fine  forehead,  arid 
a  face  indicating  energy  and  power.  There  is  a  peculiar 
droop  and  motion  of  the  lid  of  one  eye,  which  seems  to  have 
suffered  from  some  injury,  that  detracts  from  the  agreeable 
effect  of  his  face ;  but,  on  the  whole,  he  is  one  who  would  not 
pass  quite  unnoticed  in  a  European  crowd  of  the  same  descrip 
tion. 

In  the  whole  assemblage  there  was  not  a  scrap  of  lace  or 
a  piece  of  ribbon,  except  the  gorgeous  epaulettes  of  an  old 
naval  officer  who  had  served  against  us  in  the  last  war,  and 
-who  represented  some  branch  of  the  naval  department.  Nor 
were  the  Ministers  by  any  means  remarkable  for  their  per 
sonal  appearance. 

Mr.  Cameron,  the  Secretary  of  War,  a  slight  man,  above 
the  middle  height,  with  gray  hair,  deep-set  keen  gray  eyes, 
and  a  thin  mouth,  gave  me  the  idea  of  a  person  of  ability  and 
adroitness.  His  colleague,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  a 
small  man,  with  a  great  long  gray  beard  and  spectacles,  did 
not  look  like  one  of  much  originality  or  ability;  but  people 
who  know  Mr.  Welles  declare  that  he  is  possessed  of  admin 
istrative  power,  although  they  admit  that  h»*.  does  not  know 


AMERICAN  MINISTERS.  43 

the  stem  from  the  stern  of  a  ship,  and  are  in  doubt  whether 
he  ever  saw  the  sea  in  his  life.  Mr.  Smith,  the  Minister  of 
the  Interior,  is  a  bright-eyed,  smart  (I  use  the  word  in  the 
English  sense)  gentleman,  with  the  reputation  of  being  one 
of  the  most  conservative  members  of  the  cabinet.  Mr.  Blair, 
the  Postmaster- General,  is  a  person  of  much  greater  in 
fluence  than  his  position  would  indicate.  He  has  the  repu 
tation  of  being  one  of  the  most  determined  Republicans  in  the 
Ministry  ;  but  he  held  peculiar  notions  with  reference  to  the 
black  and  the  white  races,  which,  if  carried  out,  would  not  by 
any  means  conduce  to  the  comfort  or  happiness  of  free  negroes 
in  the  United  States.  He  is  a  tall,  lean  man,  with  a  hard, 
Scotch,  practical-looking  head  —  an  anvil  for  ideas  to  be 
hammered  on.  His  eyes  are  small  and  deeply  set,  and  have 
a  rat-like  expression  ;  and  he  speaks  with  caution,  as  though 
he  weighed  every  word  before  he  uttered  it.  The  last  of  the 
Ministers  is  Mr.  Bates,  a  stout,  thick-set,  common-looking 
man,  with  a  large  beard,  who  fills  the  office  of  Attorney- 
General.  Some  of  the  gentlemen  were  in  evening  dress  ; 
others  wore  black  frock-coats,  which  it  seems,  as  in  Turkey, 
are  considered  to  be  en  regie  at  a  Republican  Ministerial 
dinner. 

Jn  the  conversation  which  occurred  before  dinner,  I  was 
amused  to  observe  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  used 
the  anecdotes  for  which  he  is  famous.  Where  men  bred  in 
courts,  accustomed  to  the  world,  or  versed  in  diplomacy,  would 
use  some  subterfuge,  or  would  make  a  polite  speech,  or  give  a 
shrug  of  the  shoulders  as  the  means  of  getting  out  of  an  em 
barrassing  position,  Mr.  Lincoln  raises  a  laugh  by  some  bold 
west-country  anecdote,  and  moves  off  in  the  cloud  of  merriment 
produced  by  his  joke.  Thus,  when  Mr.  Bates  was  remon 
strating  apparently  against  the  appointment  of  some  indiffer 
ent  lawyer  to  a  place  of  judicial  importance,  the  President 
interposed  with,  "  Come  now,  Bates,  he's  not  half  as  bad  as 
you  think.  Besides  that,  I  must  tell  you,  he  did  me  a  good 
turn  long  ago.  When  I  took  to  the  law,  I  was  going  to  court 
one  morning,  with  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  of  bad  road 
before  me,  and  I  had  no  horse.  The  judge  overtook  me  in 
his  wagon.  '  Hollo,  Lincoln !  Are  you  not  going  to  the 
court-house  ?  Come  in,  and  I'll  give  you  a  seat.'  Well,  I 
got  in,  and  the  judge  went  on  reading  his  papers.  Presently 
the  wagon  struck  a  stump  on  one  side  of  the  road ;  then  it 
hopped  off  to  the  other.  I  looked  out,  and  I  saw  the  driver 


44  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

was  jerking  from  side  to  side  in  his  seat ;  so  says  I,  '  Judge,  I 
think  your  coachman  has  been  taking  a  little  drop  too  much  this 
morning.'  '  Well  I  declare,  Lincoln,'  said  he,  '  I  should  not 
-wonder  if  you  are  right,  for  he  lias  nearly  upset  me  half  a 
dozen  of  times  since  starting.'  So,  putting  his  head  out  of 
the  window,  he  shouted,  '  Why,  you  infernal  scoundrel,  you 
are  drunk  ! '  Upon  which,  pulling  up  his  horses,  and  turning 
round  with  great  gravity,  the  coachman  said,  '  By  gorra ! 
that's  the  first  rightful  decision  you  have  given  for  the  last 
twelvemonth.'"  Whilst  the  company  were  laughing,  the  Presi 
dent  beat  a  quiet  retreat  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  At 
torney-General. 

It  was  at  last  announced  that  General  Scott  was  unable  to 
be  present,  and  that,  although  actually  in  the  house,  he  had 
been  compelled  to  retire  from  indisposition,  and  we  moved 
in  to  the  banqueting-hall.  The  first  "  state  dinner,"  as  it  is 
called,  of  the  President,  was  not  remarkable  for  ostentation. 
No  liveried  servants,  no  Persic  splendor  of  ancient  plate,  or 
chefs  d'ceuvre  of  art,  glittered  round  the  board.  Vases  of 
flowers  decorated  the  table,  combined  with  dishes  in  what 
may  be  called  the  "  Gallo- American  "  style,  with  wines  which 
owed  their  parentage  to  France,  and  their  rearing  and  edu 
cation  to  the  United  States,  which  abounds  in  cunning  nurses 
*br  such  productions.  The  conversation  was  suited  to  the 
state  dinner  of  a  cabinet  at  which  women  and  strangers  were 
present.  I  was  seated  next  Mr.  Bates,  and  the  very  agree 
able  and  lively  Secretary  of  the  President,  Mr.  Hay,  and 
except  when  there  was  an  attentive  silence  caused  by  one  of 
the  President's  stories,  there  was  a  Babel  of  small  talk  round 
the  table,  in  which  I  was  surprised  to  find  a  diversity  of 
accent  almost  as  great  as  if  a  number  of  foreigners  had  been 
speaking  English.  I  omitted  the  name  of  Mr.  Hamlin,  the 
Vice-President,  as  well  as  those  of  less  remarkable  people 
who  were  present ;  but  it  would  not  be  becoming  to  pass  over 
a  man  distinguished  for  nothing  so  much  as  his  persistent  and 
unvarying  adhesion  to  one  political  doctrine,  which  has  made 
him,  in  combination  with  the  belief  in  his  honesty,  the  occu 
pant  of  a  post  which  leads  to  the  Presidency,  in  event  of  any 
occurrence  which  may  remove  Mr.  Lincoln. 

After  dinner  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  retired  to  the  drawing- 
room,  and  the  circle  was  increased  by  the  addition  of  several 
politicians.  I  had  an  opportunity  of  conversing  with  some  of 
the  Ministers,  if  not  with  all,  from  time  to  time,  and  I  was 


DINNER  AT  THE.  WHITE  HOUSE.  45 

struck  by  the  uniform  tendency  of  their  remarks  in  reference 
to  the  policy  of  Great  Britain.  They  seemed  to  think  that 
England  was  bound  by  her  anti-slavery  antecedents  to  discour 
age  to  the  utmost  any  attempts  of  the  South  to  establish  its 
independence  on  a  basis  of  slavery,  and  to  assume  that  they 
were  the  representatives  of  an  active  war  of  emancipation. 
As  the  veteran  Commodore  Stewart  passed  the  chair  of  the 
young  lady  to  whom  I  was  speaking,  she  said,  "  I  suppose, 
Mr.  Russell,  you  do  not  admire  that  officer  ?  "  "  On  the  con 
trary,"  I  said,  "  I  think  he  is  a  very  fine-looking  old  man." 
"  I  don't  mean  that,"  she  replied  ;  "  but  you  know  he  can't  be 
very  much  liked  by  you,  because  he  fought  so  gallantly  against 
you  in  the  last  war,  as  you  must  know."  I  had  not  the  cour 
age  to  confess  ignorance  of  the  captain's  antecedents.  There 
is  a  delusion  among  more  than  the  fair  American  who  spoke 
to  me,  that  we  entertain  in  England  the  sort  of  feeling,  morbid 
or  wholesome  as  it  may  be,  in  reference  to  our  reverses  at 
New  Orleans  and  elsewhere,  that  is  attributed  to  Frenchmen 
respecting  Waterloo. 

On  returning  to  Willard's  Hotel,  I  was  accosted  by  a  gentle 
man  who  came  out  from  the  crowd  in  front  of  the  office. 
"  Sir,"  he  said,  "  you  have  been  dining  with  our  President  to 
night."  I  bowed.  "  Was  it  an  agreeable  party  ?  "  said  he. 
"  What  do  you  think  of  Mr.  Lincoln  ?  "  "  May  I  ask  to  whom 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  speaking  ?  "     "  My  name  is  Mr. , 

and  I  am  the  correspondent  of  the  New  York ."     "  Then, 

sir,"  I  replied,  "  it  gives  me  satisfaction  to  tell  you  that  I  think 
a  great  deal  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  that  I  am  equally  pleased 
with  my  dinner.  I  have  the  honor  to  bid  you  good  evening." 
The  same  gentleman  informed  me  afterwards  that  he  had 
created  the  office  of  Washington  Correspondent  to  the  New 
York  papers.  "  At  first,"  said  he,  "  I  merely  wrote  news,  and 
no  one  cared  much ;  then  I  spiced  it  up,  squibbed  a  little,  and 
let  off  stories  of  my  own.  Congressmen  contradicted  me,  — 
issued  cards,  —  said  they  were  not  facts.  The  public  atten 
tion  was  attracted,  and  I  was  told  to  go  on  ;  and  so  the  Wash 
ington  correspondence  became  a  feature  in  all  the  New  York 
papers  by  degrees."  The  hum  and  bustle  in  the  hotel  to-night 
were  wonderful.  All  the  office-seekers  were  in  the  passages, 
hungering  after  senators  and  representatives,  and  the  ladies  in 
any  way  related  to  influential  people,  had  an  entourage  of  cour 
tiers  sedulously  paying  their  respects.  Miss  Chase,  indeed, 
laughingly  told  me  that  she  was  pestered  by  applicants  for  her 


46  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

father's  good  offices,  and  by  persons  seeking  introduction  to 
her  as  a  means  of  making  demands  on  "  Uncle  Sam." 

As  I  was  visiting  a  book-shop  to-day,  a  pert,  smiling  young 
fellow,  of  slight  figure  and  boyish  appearance  came  up  and 
introduced  himself  to  me  as  an  artist  who  had  contributed  to 
an  illustrated  London  paper  during  the  Prince  of  Wales's  tour, 
and  who  had  become  acquainted  with  some  of  my  friends; 
and  he  requested  permission  to  call  on  me,  which  I  gave  with 
out  difficulty  or  hesitation.  He  visited  me  this  evening,  poor 
lad  !  and  told  me  a  sad  story  of  his  struggles,  and  of  the  de 
pendence  of  his  family  on  his  efforts,  as  a  prelude  to  a  request 
that  I  would  allow  him  to  go  South  when  I  was  making  the 
tour  there,  of  which  he  had  heard.  He  was  under  an  engage 
ment  with  the  London  paper,  and  had  no  doubt  that  if  he  was 
with  me  his  sketches  would  all  be  received  as  illustrations  of 
the  places  to  which  my  letters  were  attracting  public  interest 
in  England  at  the  time.  There  was  no  reason  why  I  should  be 
averse  to  his  travelling  with  me  in  the  same  train.  He  could 
certainly  go  if  he  pleased.  At  the  same  time  I  intimated  that 
I  was  in  no  way  to  be  connected  with  or  responsible  for  him. 

March  2$f.h,  Good  Friday.  —  The  religious  observance 
of  the  day  was  not  quite  as  strict  as  it  would  be  in  England. 
The  Puritan  aversion  to  ceremonials  and  formulary  observr 
ances  has  apparently  affected  the  American  world,  even  as 
far  south  as  this.  The  people  of  color  were  in  the  streets 
dressed  in  their  best.  The  first  impression  produced  by  fine 
bonnets,  gay  shawls,  brightly -colored  dresses,  and  silk  brode- 
quins,  on  black  faces,  flat  figures,  and  feet  to  match,  is  singular  ; 
but,  in  justice  to  the  backs  of  many  of  the  gaudily-dressed 
women,  who,  in  little  groups,  were  going  to  church  or  chapel,  it 
must  be  admitted  that  this  surprise  only  came  upon  one  when 
he  got  a  front  view.  The  men  generally  affected  black  coats, 
silk  or  satin  waistcoats,  and  parti-colored  pantaloons.  They 
carried  Missal  or  Prayer-book,  pocket-handkerchief,  cane,  or 
parasol,  with  infinite  affectation  of  correctness. 

As  I  was  looking  out  of  the  window,  a  very  fine,  tall  young 
negro,  dressed  irreproachably,  save  as  to  hat  and  boots,  passed 
by.  "I  wonder  what  he  is  ?"  I  exclaimed  inquiringly  to  a 
gentleman  who  stood  beside  me.  "  Well,"  he  said,  "  that  fellow 
is  not  a  free  nigger  ;  he  looks  too  respectable.  I  dare  say  you 
could  get  him  for  1500  dollars,  without  his  clothes.  You 
know,"  continued  he,  "what  our  Minister  said  when  he  saw  a 
nigger  at  some  Court  in  Europe,  and  was  asked  what  he 


STATE  RIGHTS.  47 

thought  of  him  :  '  Well,  I  guess,'  said  he,  *  if  you  take  off  his 
fixings,  he  may  be  worth  1000  dollars  down.'  In  the  course 
of  the  day,  Mr.  Banks,  a  corpulent,  energetic  young  Virginian, 
of  strong  Southern  views,  again  called  on  me.  As  the  friend 
of  the  Southern  Commissioners  he  complained  vehemently 
of  the  refusal  of  Mr.  Seward  to  hold  intercourse  with  him. 
"  These  fellows  mean  treachery,  but  we  will  balk  them."  In 
answer  to  a  remark  of  mine,  that  the  English  Minister  would 
certainly  refuse  to  receive  Commissioners  from  any  part  of  the 
Queen's  dominions  which  had  seized  upon  the  forts  and  arse 
nals  of  the  empire  and  menaced  war,  he  replied  :  "  The  case  is 
quite  different.  The  Crown  claims  a  right  to  govern  the  whole 
of  your  empire  ;  but  the  Austrian  Government  could  not  refuse 
to  receive  a  deputation  from  Hungary  for  an  adjustment  of 
grievances  ;  nor  could  any  State  belonging  to  the  German 
Diet  attempt  to  claim  sovereignty  over  another,  because  they 
were  members  of  the  same  Confederation."  I  remarked  "  that 
his  views  of  the  obligations  of  each  State  of  the  Union  were 
perfectly  new  to  me,  as  a  stranger  ignorant  of  the  controversies 
which  distracted  them.  An  Englishman  had  nothing  to  do 
with  a  Virginian  and  New  Yorkist,  or  a  South  Carolinian  —  he 
scarcely  knew  anything  of  a  Texan,  or  of  an  Arkansian  ;  we 
only  were  conversant  with  the  United  States  as  an  entity  ;  and 
all  our  dealings  were  with  citizens  of  the  United  States  of 
North  America."  This,  however,  only  provoked  logically 
diffuse  dissertations  on  the  Articles  of  the  Constitution,  and  on 
the  spirit  of  the  Federal  Compact. 

Later  in  the  day,  I  had  the  advantage  of  a  conversation 
with  Mr.  Truman  Smith,  an  old  and  respected  representative 
in  former  days,  who  gave  me  a  very  different  account  of  the 
matter;  and  who  maintained  that  by  the  Federal  Compact 
each  State  had  delegated  irrevocably  the  essence  of  its  sover 
eignty  to  a  Government  to  be  established  in  perpetuity  for  the 
benefit  of  the  whole  body.  The  Slave  States,  seeing  that  the 
progress  of  free  ideas,  and  the  material  power  of  the  North, 
were  obtaining  an  influence  which  must  be  subversive  of  the 
supremacy  they  had  so  long  exercised  in  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  for  their  own  advantage,  had  developed  this  doctrine  of 
States'  Rights  as  a  cloak  to  treason,  preferring  the  material 
advantages  to  be  gained  by  the  extension  of  their  system  to 
the  grand  moral  position  which  they  would  occupy  as  a  por 
tion  of  the  United  States  in  the  face  of  all  the  world. 

It  is  on  such  radical  differences  of  ideas  as  these,  that  the 


48  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

whole  of  the  quarrel,  which  is  widening  every  day,  is  founded. 
The  Federal  Compact,  at  the  very  outset,  was  written  on  a 
torn  sheet  of  paper,  and  time  has  worn  away  the  artificial 
cement  by  which  it  was  kept  together.  The  corner-stone  of 
the  Constitution  had  a  crack  in  it,  which  the  heat  and  fury  of 
faction  have  widened  into  a  fissure  from  top  to  bottom,  never 
to  be  closed  again. 

In  the  evening  I  had  the  pleasure  of  dining  with  an  Amer 
ican  gentleman  who  has  seen  much  of  the  world,  travelled  far 
and  wide,  who  has  read  much  and  beheld  more,  a  scholar,  a 
politician,  after  his  way,  a  poet,  and  an  ologist  —  one  of  those 
modern  Grceculi,  who  is  unlike  his  prototype  in  Juvenal  only 
in  this,  that  he  is  not  hungry,  and  that  he  will  not  go  to  heaven 
if  you  order  him. 

Such  men  never  do  or  can  succeed  in  the  United  States ; 
they  are  far  too  refined,  philosophical,  and  cosmopolitan. 
From  what  I  see,  success  here  may  be  obtained  by  refined 
men,  if  they  are  dishonest,  never  by  philosophical  men,  unless 
they  be  corrupt  —  not  by  cosmopolitan  men  under  any  cir 
cumstances  whatever;  for  to  have  sympathies  with  any  people, 
or  with  any  nation  in  the  world,  except  his  own,  is  to  doom  a 
statesman  with  the  American  public,  unless  it  be  in  the  form 
of  an  affectation  of  pity  or  good  will,  intended  really  as  an 
offence  to  some  allied  people.  At  dinner  there  was  the  very 
largest  naval  officer  I  have  ever  seen  in  company,  although  I 
must  own  that  our  own  service  is  not  destitute  of  some  good 
specimens,  and  I  have  seen  an  Austrian  admiral  at  Pola,  and 
the  superintendent  of  the  Arsenal  at  Tophaneh,  who  were  not 
unfit  to  be  marshals  of  France.  This  Lieutenant,  named 
Nelson,  was  certainly  greater  in  one  sense  than  his  British 
namesake,  for  he  weighed  260  pounds. 

It  may  be  here  remarked,  passim  and  obiter,  that  the  Amer 
icans  are  much  more  precise  than  ourselves  in  the  enumera 
tion  of  weights  and  matters  of  this  kind.  They  speak  of 
pieces  of  artillery,  for  example,  as  being  of  so  many  pounds 
weight,  and  of  so  many  inches  long,  where  we  would  use  cwts. 
and  feet.  With  a  people  addicted  to  vertical  rather  than 
lateral  extension  in  everything  but  politics  and  morals,  precis 
ion  is  a  matter  of  importance.  I  was  amused  by  a  descrip 
tion  of  some  popular  personage  I  saw  in  one  of  the  papers  the 
other  day,  which  after  an  enumeration  of  many  high  mental 
and  physical  attributes,  ended  thus,  "  In  fact  he  is  a  remark 
ably  fine  high-toned  gentleman,  and  weighs  210  pounds." 


AN"  AMERICAN  NELSON".  49 

The  Lieutenant  was  a  strong  Union  man,  and  he  inveighed 
fiercely,  and  even  coarsely,  against  the  members  of  his  pro 
fession  who  had  thrown  up  their  commissions.  The  superin 
tendent  of  the  Washington  Navy  Yard  is  supposed  to  be  very 
little  disposed  in  favor  of  this  present  Government ;  in  fact, 
Capt.  Buchanan  may  be  called  a  Secessionist,  nevertheless,  I 
am  invited  to  the  wedding  of  his  daughter,  in  order  to  see  the 
President  give  away  the  bride.  Mr.  Nelson  says,  Sumter 
and  Pickens  are  to  be  reinforced.  Charleston  is  to  be  reduced 
to  order,  and  all  traitors  hanged,  or  he  will  know  the  reason 
why  ;  and,  says  he,  "  I  have  some  weight  in  the  country."  In 
the  evening,  as  we  were  going  home,  notwithstanding  the 
cold,  we  saw  a  number  of  ladies  sitting  out  on  the  door-steps, 
in  white  dresses.  The  streets  were  remarkably  quiet  and 
deserted  ;  all  the  colored  population  had  been  sent  to  bed  long 
ago.  The  fire-bell,  as  usual,  made  an  alarm  or  two  about 
midnight. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Barbers'  shops — Place-hunting  —  The  Navy  Yard  —  Dinner  at  Lord 
Lyons' — Estimate  of  Washington  among  his  countrymen  — 
Washington's  house  and  tomb  —  The  Southern  Commissioners  — 
Dinner  with  the  Southern  Commissioners — Feeling  towards 
England  among  the  Southerners  —  Animosity  between  North 
and  South. 

March  30t7i.  —  Descended  into  the  barber's  shop  off  the 
hall  of  the  hotel ;  all  the  operators,  men  of  color,  mostly  mu- 
lattoes,  or  yellow  lads,  good-looking,  dressed  in  clean  white 
jackets  and  aprons,  were  smart,  quick,  and  attentive.  Some 
seven  or  eight  shaving  chairs  were  occupied  by  gentlemen  in 
tent  on  early  morning  calls.  Shaving  is  carried  in  all  its  ac 
cessories  to  a  high  degree  of  publicity,  if  not  of  perfection,  in 
America  ;  and  as  the  poorest,  or  as  I  may  call  them  without 
offence,  the  lowest  orders  in  England  have  their  easy  shaving 
for  a  penny,  so  the  highest,  if  there  be  any  in  America,  submit 
themselves  in  public  to  the  inexpensive  operations  of  the  negro 
barber.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  chairs  are  easy  and  well- 
arranged,  the  fingers  nimble,  sure,  and  light ;  but  the  affecta 
tion  of  French  names,  and  the  corruption  of  foreign  languages, 
in  which  the  hairdressers  and  barbers  delight,  are  exceedingly 
amusing.  On  my  way  down  a  small  street  near  the  Capitol, 
I  observed  in  a  shop  window,  "  Rowland's  make  easier  paste," 
which  I  attribute  to  an  imperfect  view  of  the  etymology  of 
the  great  "  Macassar ; "  on  another  occasion  I  was  asked  to 
try  Somebody's  "  Curious  Elison,"  which  I  am  afraid  was  an 
attempt  to  adapt  to  a  shaving  paste,  an  address  not  at  all  suited 
to  profane  uses.  It  appears  that  the  trade  of  barber  is  almost 
the  birthright  of  the  free  negro  or  colored  man  in  the  United 
States.  There  is  a  striking  exemplification  of  natural  equality 
in  the  use  of  brushes,  and  the  senator  flops  down  in  the  seat, 
and  has  his  noble  nose  seized  by  the  same  fingers  which  the 
moment  before  were  occupied  by  the  person  and  chin  of  an 
unmistakable  rowdy. 

In  the  midst  of  the  divine  calm  produced  by  hard  hand 


PLACES   WANTED.  51 

rubbing  of  my  head,  I  was  aroused  by  a  stout  gentleman  who 
sat  in  a  chair  directly  opposite.  Through  the  door  which 
opened  into  the  hall  of  the  hotel,  one  could  see  the  great 
crowd  passing  to  and  fro,  thronging  the  passage  as  though  it 
had  been  the  entrance  to  the  Forum,  or  the  "  Salle  de  pas 
perdus."  I  had  observed  my  friend's  eye  gazing  fixedly 
through  the  opening  on  the  outer  world.  Suddenly,  with  his 
face  half-covered  with  lather,  and  a  bib  tucked  under  his  chin, 
he  got  up  from  his  seat  exclaiming,  "  Senator !  Senator ! 
hallo!"  and  made  a  dive  into  the  passage — whether  he  re 
ceived  a  stem  rebuke,  or  became  aware  of  his  impropriety,  I 
know  not,  but  in  an  instant  he  came  back  again,  and  submitted 
quietly,  till  the  work  of  the  barber  was  completed. 

The  great  employment  of  four  fifths  of  the  people  at  Wil- 
lard's  at  present  seems  to  be  to  hunt  senators  and  congressmen 
through  the  lobbies.  Every  man  is  heavy  with  documents  — 
those  which  he  cannot  carry  in  his  pockets  and  hat,  occupy 
his  hands,  or  are  thrust  under  his  arms.  In  the  hall  are  ad 
vertisements  announcing  that  certificates,  and  letters  of  testi 
monial,  and  such  documents,  are  printed  with  expedition  and 
neatness.  From  paper  collars,  and  cards  of  address  to  car 
riages,  and  new  suits  of  clothes,  and  long  hotel  bills,  nothing 
is  left  untried  or  uninvigorated.  The  whole  city  is  placarded 
with  announcements  of  facilities  for  assaulting  the  powers  that 
be,  among  which  must  not  be  forgotten  the  claims  of  the  "  ex 
celsior  card-writer,"  at  Willard's,  who  prepares  names,  ad 
dresses,  styles,  and  titles,  in  superior  penmanship.  The  men 
who  have  got  places,  having  been  elected  by  the  people,  must 
submit  to  the  people,  who  think  they  have  established  a  claim 
on  them  by  their  favors.  The  majority  confer  power,  but  they 
seem  to  forget  that  it  is  only  the  minority  who  can  enjoy  the 
first  fruits  of  success.  It  is  as  if  the  whole  constituency  of 
Marylebone  insisted  on  getting  some  office  under  the  Crown 
the  moment  a  member  was  returned  to  Parliament.  There 
are  men  at  Willard's  who  have  come  literally  thousands  of 
miles  to  seek  for  places  which  can  only  be  theirs  for  four 
years,  and  who  with  true  American  facility  have  abandoned 
the  calling  and  pursuits  of  a  lifetime  for  this  doubtful  canvass ; 
and  I  was  told  of  one  gentleman,  who  having  been  informed 
that  he  could  not  get  a  judgeship,  condescended  to  seek  a  place 
in  the  Post-Office,  and  finally  applied  to  Mr.  Chase  to  be  ap 
pointed  keeper  of  a  "  lighthouse,"  he  was  not  particular  where. 
In  the  forenoon  I  drove  to  the  Washington  Navy  Yard,  in 


52  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

company  with  Lieutenant  Nelson  and  two  friends.  It  is 
about  two  miles  outside  the  city,  situated  on  a  fork  of  land 
projecting  between  a  creek  and  the  Potomac  River,  which  is 
here  three  quarters  of  a  mile  broad.  If  the  French  had  a 
Navy  Yard  at  Paris  it  could  scarcely  be  contended  that  Eng 
lish,  Russians,  or  Austrians  would  not  have  been  justified  in 
destroying  it  in  case  they  got  possession  of  the  city  by  force 
of  arms,  after  a  pitched  battle  fought  outside  its  gates.  I  con 
fess  I  would  not  give  much  for  Deptford  and  Woolwich  if 
an  American  fleet  succeeded  in  forcing  its  way  up  the 
Thames  ;  but  our  American  cousins,  —  a  little  more  than  kin 
and  less  than  kind,  who  speak  with  pride  of  Paul  Jones  and 
of  their  exploits  on  the  Lakes,  —  affect  to  regard  the  burning 
of  the  Washington  Navy  Yard  by  us,  in  the  last  war,  as  an 
unpardonable  outrage  on  the  law  of  nations,  and  an  atrocious 
exercise  of  power.  For  all  the  good  it  did,  for  my  own  part, 
I  think  it  were  as  well  had  it  never  happened,  but  no  juris 
consult  will  for  a  moment  deny  that  it  was  a  legitimate,  even 
if  extreme,  exercise  of  a  belligerent  right  in  the  case  of  an 
enemy  who  did  not  seek  terms  from  the  conqueror ;  and  who, 
after  battle  lost,  fled  and  abandoned  the  property  of  their  state, 
which  might  be  useful  to  them  in  war,  to  the  power  of  the 
victor.  Notwithstanding  all  the  unreasonableness  of  the  Amer 
ican  people  in  reference  to  their  relations  with  foreign  powers, 
it  is  deplorable  such  scenes  should  ever  have  been  enacted 
between  members  of  the  human  family  so  closely  allied  by  all 
that  shall  make  them  of  the  same  household. 

The  Navy  Yard  is  surrounded  by  high  brick  walls  ;  in  the 
gateway  stood  two  sentries  in  dark  blue  tunics,  yellow  facings, 
with  eagle  buttons,  brightly  polished  arms,  and  white  Berlin 
gloves,  wearing  a  cap  something  like  a  French  kepi,  all  very 
clean  and  creditable.  Inside  are  some  few  trophies  of  guns 
taken  from  us  at  Yorktown,  and  from  the  Mexicans  in  the 
land  of  Cortez.  The  interior  inclosure  is  surrounded  by  red 
brick  houses,  and  stores  and  magazines,  picked  out  with  white 
stone  ;  and  two  or  three  green  glass-plots,  fenced  in  by  pillars 
and  chains  and  bordered  by  trees,  give  an  air  of  agreeable 
freshness  to  the  place.  Close  to  the  river  are  the  work 
shops:  of  course  there  is  smoke  and  noise  of  steam  and 
machinery.  In  a  modest  office,  surrounded  by  books,  papers, 
drawings,  and  models,  as  well  as  by  shell  and  shot  and  racks 
of  arms  of  different  descriptions,  we  found  Capt.  Dahlgren, 
the  acting  superintendent  of  the  yard,  and  the  inventor  of  the 


THE  NAVY   YARD.  53 

famous  gun  which  bears  his  name,  and  is  the  favorite  arma 
ment  of  the  American  navy.  By  our  own  sailors  they  are 
irreverently  termed  "  soda-water  bottles,"  owing  to  their 
shape.  Capt.  Dahlgren  contends  that  guns  capable  of  throw 
ing  the  heaviest  shot  may  be  constructed  of  cast-iron,  carefully 
prepared  and  moulded  so  that  the  greatest  thickness  of  metal 
may  be  placed  at  the  points  of  resistance,  at  the  base  of  the 
gun,  the  muzzle  and  forward  portions  being  of  very  moderate 
thickness. 

All  inventors,  or  even  adapters  of  systems,  must  be  earnest 
self-reliant  persons,  full  of  confidence,  and,  above  all,  impres 
sive,  or  they  will  make  little  way  in  the  conservative,  status- 
^woloving  world.  Captain  Dahlgren  has  certainly  most  of 
these  characteristics,  but  he  has  to  fight  with  his  navy  depart 
ment,  with  the  army,  with  boards  and  with  commissioners, — 
in  fact,  with  all  sorts  of  obstructors.  When  I  was  going  over 
the  yard,  he  deplored  the  parsimony  of  the  department,  which 
refused  to  yield  to  his  urgent  entreaties  for  additional  furnaces 
to  cast  guns. 

No  large  guns  are  cast  at  Washington.  The  foundries  are 
only  capable  of  turning  out  brass  field-pieces  and  boat-guns. 
Capt.  Dahlgren  obligingly  got  one  of  the  latter  out  to  practise 
for  us  —  a  12-pounder  howitzer,  which  can  be  carried  in  a 
boat,  run  on  land  on  its  carriage,  which  is  provided  with 
wheels,  and  is  so  light  that  the  gun  can  be  drawn  readily 
about  by  the  crew.  He  made  some  good  practice  with  shrap 
nel  at  a  target  1200  yards  distant,  firing  so  rapidly  as  to  keep 
three  shells  in  the  air  at  the  same  time.  Compared  with  our 
establishments,  this  dockyard  is  a  mere  toy,  and  but  few 
hands  are  employed  in  it.  One  steam  sloop,  the  "  Pawnee," 
was  under  the  shears,  nearly  ready  for  sea :  the  frame  of 
another  was  under  the  building-shed.  There  are  no  facilities 
for  making  iron  ships,  or  putting  on  plate-armor  here.  Every 
thing  was  shown  to  us  with  the  utmost  frankness.  The  fuse 
of  the  Dahlgren  shell  is  constructed  on  the  vis  inertia  prin 
ciple,  and  is  not  unlike  that  of  the  Armstrong. 

On  returning  to  the  hotel,  I  found  a  magnificent  bouquet  of 
flowers,  with  a  card  attached  to  them,  with  Mrs.  Lincoln's  com 
pliments,  and  another  card  announcing  that  she  had  a  "  recep 
tion  "  at  three  o'clock.  It  was  rather  late  before  I  could  get  to 
the  White  House,  and  there  were  only  two  or  three  ladies 
in  the  drawing-room  when  I  arrived.  I  was  informed  after 
wards  that  the  attendance  was  very  scanty.  The  Washington 


54  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

ladies  have  not  yet  made  up  their  minds  that  Mrs.  Lincoln  is 
the  fashion.  They  miss  their  Southern  friends,  and  constantly 
draw  comparisons  between  them  and  the  vulgar  Yankee 
women  and  men  who  are  now  in  power.  I  do  not  know 
enough  to  say  whether  the  affectation  of  superiority  be  justi 
fied  ;  but  assuredly  if  New  York  be  Yankee,  there  is  nothing 
in  which  it  does  not  far  surpass  this  preposterous  capital. 
The  impression  of  homeliness  produced  by  Mrs.  Lincoln  on 
first  sight,  is  not  diminished  by  closer  acquaintance.  Few 
women  not  to  the  manner  born  there  are,  whose  heads  would 
not  be  disordered,  and  circulation  disturbed,  by  a  rapid  transi 
tion,  almost  instantaneous,  from  a  condition  of  obscurity  in  a 
country  town  to  be  mistress  of  the  White  House.  Her  smiles 
and  her  frowns  become  a  matter  of  consequence  to  the  whole 
American  world.  As  the  wife  of  the  country  lawyer,  or  even 
of  the  congressman,  her  movements  were  of  no  consequence. 
The  journals  of  Springfield  would  not  have  wasted  a  line  upon 
them.  Now,  if  she  but  drive  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
the  electric  wire  thrills  the  news  to  every  hamlet  in  the  Union 
which  has  a  newspaper ;  and  fortunate  is  the  correspondent 
who,  in  a  special  despatch,  can  give  authentic  particulars  of 
her  destination  and  of  her  dress.  The  lady  is  surrounded  by 
flatterers  and  intriguers,  seeking  for  influence  or  such  places 
as  she  can  give.  As  Selden  says,  "  Those  who  wish  to  set  a 
house  on  fire  begin  with  the  thatch." 

March  31st,  .Easter  Sunday.  —  I  dined  with  Lord  Lyons 
and  the  members  of  the  Legation ;  the  only  stranger  present 
being  Senator  Sumner.  Politics  were  of  course  eschewed, 
for  Mr.  Sumner  is  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Relations  of  the  Senate,  and  Lord  Lyons  is  a  very  discreet 
Minister  ;  but  still  there  crept  in  a  word  of  Pickens  and  Sum- 
ter,  and  that  was  all.  Mr.  Fox,  formerly  of  the  United  States 
Navy,  and  since  that  a  master  of  a  steamer  in  the  commercial 
marine,  who  is  related  to  Mr.  Blair,  has  been  sent  on  some 
mission  to  Fort  Sumter,  and  has  been  allowed  to  visit  Major 
Anderson  by  the  authorities  at  Charleston ;  but  it  is  not 
known  what  was  the  object  of  his  mission.  Everywhere  there 
is  Secession  resignation,  in  a  military  sense  of  the  word.  The 
Southern  Commissioners  declare  they  will  soon  retire  to 
Montgomery,  and  that  any  attempt  to  reinforce  or  supply  the 
forts  will  be  a  casus  belli.  There  is  the  utmost  anxiety  to 
know  what  Virginia  will  do.  General  Scott  belongs  to  the 
State,  and  it  is  feared  he  may  be  shaken,  if  the  State  goes  out. 


THE  SHRINE  OF  WASHINGTON.  55 

Already  the  authorities  of  Richmond  have  intimated  they  will 
not  allow  the  foundry  to  furnish  guns  to  the  seaboard  forts, 
such  as  Monroe  and  Norfolk  in  Virginia.  This  concession 
of  an  autonomy  is  really  a  recognition  of  States'  Rights. 
For  if  a  State  can  vote  itself  in  or  out  of  the  Union,  why  can 
it  not  make  war  or  peace,  and  accept  or  refuse  the  Federal 
Government?  In  fact,  the  Federal  system  is  radically  defec 
tive  against  internal  convulsion,  however  excellent  it  is  or 
may  be  for  purposes  of  external  polity.  I  walked  home  with 
Mr.  Sumner  to  his  rooms,  and  heard  some  of  his  views,  which 
were  not  so  sanguine  as  those  of  Mr.  Seward,  and  I  thought 
I  detected  a  desire  to  let  the  Southern  States  go  out  with 
their  slavery,  if  they  so  desired  it.  Mr.  Chase,  by  the  way, 
expressed  sentiments  of  the  same  kind  more  decidedly  the 
other  day. 

April  1st. —  On  Easter  Monday,  after  breakfast  with  Mr. 
Olmsted,  I  drove  over  to  visit  Senator  Douglas.  Originally 
engaged  in  some  mechanical  avocation,  by  his  ability  and  elo 
quence  he  has  raised  himself  to  the  highest  position  in  the 
State  short  of  the  Presidency,  which  might  have  been  his  but 
for  the  extraordinary  success  of  his  opponent  in  a  fortuitous 
suffrage  scramble.  He  is  called  the  Little  Giant,  being  modo 
Upedali  statura,  but  his  head  entitles  him  to  some  recognition 
of  intellectual  height.  His  sketch  of  the  causes  which  have 
led  to  the  present  disruption  of  parties,  and  the  hazard  of 
civil  war,  was  most  vivid  and  able  ;  and  for  more  than  an  hour 
he  spoke  with  a  vigor  of  thought  and  terseness  of  phrase 
which,  even  on  such  dreary  and  uninviting  themes  as  squatter 
sovereignty  and  the  Kansas-Nebraska  question,  interested  a 
foreigner  in  the  man  and  the  subject.  Although  his  sympa 
thies  seemed  to  go  \vith  the  South  on  the  question  of  slavery 
and  territorial  extension,  he  condemned  altogether  the  attempt 
to  destroy  the  Union. 

April  2d.  —  The  following  day  I  started  early,  and  per 
formed  my  pilgrimage  to  "  the  shrine  of  St.  Washington,"  at 
Mount  Vernon,  as  a  foreigner  on  board  called  the  place.  Mr. 
Bancroft  has  in  his  possession  a  letter  of  the  General's  mother, 
in  which  she  expresses  her  gratification  at  his  leaving  the 
British  army  in  a  manner  which  implies  that  he  had  been 
either  extravagant  in  his  expenses  or  wild  in  his  manner  of 
living.  But  if  he  had  any  human  frailties  in  after  life,  they 
neither  offended  the  morality  of  his  age,  nor  shocked  the  sus 
ceptibility  of  his  countrymen ;  and  from  the  time  that  the 


56  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

much  maligned  and  unfortunate  Braddock  gave  scope  to  his 
ability,  down  to  his  retirement  into  private  life,  after  a  career 
of  singular  trials  and  extraordinary  successes,  his  character 
acquired  each  day  greater  altitude,  strength,  and  lustre.  Had 
his  work  failed,  had  the  Republic  broken  up  into  small  anar 
chical  states,  we  should  hear  now  little  of  Washington.  But 
the  principles  of  liberty  founded  in  the  original  Constitution 
of  the  colonies  themselves,  and  in  no  degree  derived  from  or 
dependent  on  the  Revolution,  combined  with  the  sufferings  of 
the  Old  and  the  bounty  of  nature  in  the  New  "World  to  carry 
to  an  unprecedented  degree  the  material  prosperity,  which 
Americans  have  mistaken  for  good  government,  and  the  phys 
ical  comforts  which  have  made  some  States  in  the  Union  the 
nearest  approach  to  Utopia.  The  Federal  Government  hith 
erto  "  let  the  people  alone,"  and  they  went  on  their  way  sing 
ing  and  praising  their  Washington  as  the  author  of  so  much 
greatness  and  happiness.  To  doubt  his  superiority  to  any 
man  of  woman  born,  is  to  insult  the  American  people.  They 
are  not  content  with  his  being  great  —  or  even  greater  than 
the  great :  he  must  be  greatest  of  all ;  —  "  first  in  peace,  and 
first  in  war."  The  rest  of  the  world  cannot  find  fault  with 
the  assertion,  that  he  is  "  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  country 
men."  But  he  was  not  possessed  of  the  highest  military 
qualities,  if  we  are  to  judge  from  most  of  the  regular  actions, 
in  which  the  British  had  the  best  of  it ;  and  the  final  blow, 
when  Cornwallis  surrendered  at  Yorktovvn,  was  struck  by  the 
arm  of  France,  by  Rochambeau  and  the  French  fleet,  rather 
than  by  Washington  and  his  Americans.  He  had  all  the 
qualities  for  the  work  for  which  he  was  designed,  and  is  fairly 
entitled  to  the  position  his  countrymen  have  given  him  as  the 
immortal  czar  of  the  United  States.  His  pictures  are  visible 
everywhere  —  in  the  humblest  inn,  in  the  Minister's  bureau, 
in  the  millionnaire's  gallery.  There  are  far  more  engravings 
of  Washington  in  America  than  there  are  of  Napoleon  in 
France,  and  that  is  saying  a  good  deal. 

What  have  we  here  ?  The  steamer  which  has  been  pad 
dling  down  the  gentle  current  of  the  Potomac,  here  a  mile 
and  more  in  breadth,  banked  in  by  forest,  through  which  can 
be  seen  homesteads  and  white  farm-houses,  in  the  midst  of 
large  clearings  and  corn-fields  —  has  moved  in  towards  a 
high  bluff,  covered  with  trees,  on  the  summit  of  which  is  vis 
ible  the  trace  of  some  sort  of  building  —  a  ruined  summer- 
house,  rustic  temple  —  whatever  it  may  be ;  and  the  bell  on 


WASHINGTON'S  HOUSE.  57 

deck  begins  to  toll  solemnly,  and  some  of  the  pilgrims  uncover 
their  heads  for  a  moment.  The  boat  stops  at  a  rotten,  tumble 
down  little  pier,  which  leads  to  a  waste  of  mud,  and  a  path 
rudely  cut  through  the  wilderness  of  briers  on  the  hill-side. 
The  pilgrims,  of  whom  there  are  some  thirty  or  forty,  of  both 
sexes,  mostly  belonging  to  the  lower  classes  of  citizens,  and 
comprising  a  few  foreigners  like  myself,  proceed  to  climb  this 
steep,  which  seemed  in  a  state  of  nature  covered  with  prime 
val  forest,  and  tangled  weeds  and  briers,  till  the  plateau,  on 
which  stands  the  house  of  Washington  and  the  domestic  of 
fices  around  it,  is  reached.  It  is  an  oblong  wooden  house,  of 
two  stories  in  height,  with  a  colonnade  towards  the  river  face, 
and  a  small  balcony  on  the  top  and  on  the  level  of  the  roof, 
over  which  rises  a  little  paltry  gazebo.  There  are  two  win 
dows,  a  glass  door  at  one  end  of  the  oblong,  and  a  wooden  al 
cove  extending  towards  the  slave  quarters,  which  are  very 
small  sentry-box  huts,  that  have  been  recently  painted,  and 
stand  at  right  angles  to  the  end  of  the  house,  with  dog-houses 
and  poultry-hutches  attached  to  them.  There  is  no  attempt 
at  neatness  or  order  about  the  place  ;  though  the  exterior  of 
the  house  is  undergoing  repair,  the  grass  is  unkempt,  the 
shrubs  untrimmed,  —  neglect,  squalor,  and  chicken  feathers 
have  marked  the  lawn  for  their  own.  The  house  is  in  keep 
ing,  and  threatens  to  fall  to  ruin.  I  entered  the  door,  and 
found  myself  in  a  small  hall,  stained  with  tobacco  juice.  An 
iron  railing  ran  across  the  entrance  to  the  stairs.  Here  stood 
a  man  at  a  gate,  who  presented  a  book  to  the  visitors,  and 
pointed  out  the  notice  therein,  that  "  no  person  is  permitted 
to  inscribe  his  name  in  this  book  who  does  not  contribute  to 
the  Washington  Fund,  and  that  any  name  put  down  without 
money  would  be  erased."  Notwithstanding  the  warning,  some 
patriots  succeeded  in  recording  their  names  without  any  pecu 
niary  mulct,  and  others  did  so  at  a  most  reasonable  rate. 
When  I  had  contributed  in  a  manner  which  must  have  repre 
sented  an  immense  amount  of  Washingtoniolatry,  estimated 
by  the  standard  of  the  day,  I  was  informed  I  could  not  go 
up-stairs  as  the  rooms  above  were  closed  to  the  public,  and 
thus  the  most  interesting  portion  of  the  house  was  shut  from 
the  strangers.  The  lower  rooms  presented  nothing  worthy  of 
notice  —  some  lumbering,  dusty,  decayed  furniture  ;  a  broken 
harpsichord,  dust,  cobwebs  —  no  remnant  of  the  man  himself. 
But  over  the  door  of  one  room  hung  the  key  of  the  Bastille.* 
*  Since  borrowed,  it  is  supposed,  by  Mr.  Seward,  and  handed  over 
3* 


58  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

The  gardens,  too,  were  tabooed ;  but  through  the  gate  I  could 
see  a  wilderness  of  neglected  trees  and  shrubs,  not  unmingled 
with  a  suspicion  of  a  present  kitchen-ground.  Let  us  pass  to 
the  Tomb,  which  is  some  distance  from  the  house,  beneath  the 
shade  of  some  fine  trees.  It  is  a  plain  brick  mausoleum,  with 
a  pointed  arch,  barred  by  an  iron  grating,  through  which  the 
light  penetrates  a  chamber  or  small  room  containing  two  sar 
cophagi  of  stone.  Over  the  arch,  on  a  slab  let  into  the  brick, 
are  the  words  :  "  Within  this  enclosure  rest  the  remains  of 
Gen.  George  Washington."  The  fallen  leaves  which  had 
drifted  into  the  chamber  rested  thickly  on  the  floor,  and  were 
piled  up  on  the  sarcophagi,  and  it  was  difficult  to  determine 
which  was  the  hero's  grave  without  the  aid  of  an  expert,  but 
there  was  neither  guide  nor  guardian  on  the  spot.  Some  four 
or  five  gravestones,  of  various  members  of  the  family,  stand  in 
the  ground  outside  the  little  mausoleum.  The  place  was  most 
depressing.  One  felt  angry  with  a  people  whose  lip  service 
was  accompanied  by  so  little  of  actual  respect.  The  owner 
of  this  property,  inherited  from  the  "  Pater  Patrice,"  has  been 
abused  in  good  set  terms  because  he  asked  its  value  from  the 
country  which  has  been  so  very  mindful  of  the  services  of  his 
ancestor,  and  which  is  now  erecting  by  slow  stages  the  over 
grown  Cleopatra's  needle  that  is  to  be  a  Washington  Monu 
ment  when  it  is  finished.  Mr.  Everett  has  been  lecturing, 
the  Ladies'  Mount  Vernon  Association  has  been  working,  and 
every  one  has  been  adjuring  everybody  else  to  give  liberally ; 
but  the  result  so  lately  achieved  is  by  no  means  worthy  of 
the  object.  Perhaps  the  Americans  think  it  is  enough  to  say 
—  "  Si  monumentum  queer  is,  circumspice"  But,  at  all  events, 
there  is  a  St.  Paul's  round  those  words. 

On  the  return  of  the  steamer  I  visited  Fort  Washington, 
which  is  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Potomac.  I  found 
everything  in  a  state  of  neglect  —  gun-carriages  rotten,  shot 
piles  rusty,  furnaces  tumbling  to  pieces.  The  place  might  be 
made  strong  enough  on  the  river  front,  but  the  rear  is  weak, 
though  there  is  low  marshy  land  at  the  back.  A  company  of 
regulars  were  on  duty.  The  sentries  took  no  precautions 
against  surprise.  Twenty  determined  men,  armed  with  re 
volvers,  could  have  taken  the  whole  work  ;  and,  for  all  the 

by  him  to  Mr.  Stan  ton.  Lafayette  gave  it  to  Washington ;  lie  also 
gave  his  name  to  the  Fort  which  lias  played  so  conspicuous  a  part  in 
the  war  for  liberty  —  "La  liberte  cles  deux  mondes,"  might  well  sigh 
it'  he  could  see  his  work,  and  what  it  has  led  to. 


THE  SOUTHERN  COMMISSIONERS.  59 

authorities  knew,  we  might  have  had  that  number  of  Virgin 
ians  and  the  famous  Ben  McCullough  himself  on  board.  Af 
terwards,  when  I  ventured  to  make  a  remark  to  General 
Scott  as  to  the  carelessness  of  the  garrison,  he  said  :  "  A  few 
weeks  ago  it  might  have  been  taken  by  a  bottle  of  whiskey. 
The  whole  garrison  consisted  of  an  old  Irish  pensioner."  Now 
at  this  very  moment  Washington  is  full  of  rumors  of  desper 
ate  descents  on  the  capital,  and  an  attack  on  the  President 
and  his  Cabinet.  The  long  bridge  across  the  Potomac  into 
Virginia  is  guarded,  and  the  militia  and  volunteers  of  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  are  to  be  called  out  to  resist  McCullough 
and  his  Richmond  desperadoes. 

April  3d.  —  I  had  an  interview  with  the  Southern  Commis 
sioners  to-day,  at  their  hotel.  For  more  than  an  hour  I  heard, 
from  men  of  position  and  of  different  sections  in  the  South, 
expressions  which  satisfied  me  the  Union  could  never  be  re 
stored,  if  they  truly  represented  the  feelings  and  opinions  of 
their  fellow-citizens.  They  have  the  idea  they  are  ministers 
of  a  foreign  power  treating  with  Yankeedom,  and  their  indig 
nation  is  moved  by  the  refusal  of  Government  to  negotiate 
with  them,  armed  as  they  are  with  full  authority  to  arrange 
all  questions  arising  out  of  an  amicable  separation  —  such  as 
the  adjustment  of  Federal  claims  for  property,  forts,  stores, 
public  works,  debts,  land  purchases,  and  the  like.  One  of  the 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  Mr. 
Campbell,  is  their  intermediary,  and  of  course  it  is  not  known 
what  hopes  Mr.  Seward  has  held  out  to  him  ;  but  there  is 
some  imputation  of  Punic  faith  against  the  Government  on 
account  of  recent  acts,  and  there  is  no  doubt  the  Commissioners 
hear,  as  I  do,  that  there  are  preparations  at  the  Navy  Yard 
and  at  New  York  to  relieve  Sumter,  at  any  rate,  with  pro 
visions,  and  that  Pickens  has  actually  been  reinforced  by  sea. 
In  the  evening  I  dined  at  the  British  Legation,  and  went  over 
to  the  house  of  the  Russian  Minister,  M.  de  Stoeckl,  in  the 
evening.  The  diplomatic  body  in  Washington  constitute  a 
small  and  very  agreeable  society  of  their  own,  in  which  few 
Americans  mingle  except  at  the  receptions  and  large  evening 
assemblies.  As  the  people  now  in  power  are  novi  homines, 
the  wives  and  daughters  of  ministers  and  attaches  are  deprived 
of  their  friends  who  belonged  to  the  old  society  in  Washing 
ton,  and  who  have  either  gone  off  to  Secession,  or  sympathize 
so  deeply  with  the  Southern  States  that  it  is  scarcely  becom 
ing  to  hold  very  intimate  relations  with  them  in  the  face  of 


60  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Government.  From  the  house  of  M.  de  Stoeckl  I  went  to  a 
party  at  the  residence  of  M.  Tassara,  the  Spanish  Minister, 
where  there  was  a  crowd  of  diplomats,  young  and  old. 
Diplomatists  seldom  or  never  talk  politics,  and  so  Pickens 
and  Sumter  were  unheard  of;  but  it  is  stated  nevertheless 
that  Virginia  is  on  the  eve  of  secession,  and  will  certainly  go 
if  the  President  attempts  to  use  force  in  relieving  and  strength 
ening  the  Federal  forts. 

April  4th.  —  I  had  a  long  interview  with  Mr.  Seward  to 
day  at  the  State  Department.  He  set  forth  at  great  length 
the  helpless  condition  in  which  the  President  and  the  Cabinet 
found  themselves  when  they  began  the  conduct  of  public  af 
fairs  at  Washington.  The  last  cabinet  had  tampered  with 
treason,  and  had  contained  traitors ;  a  miserable  imbecility 
had  encouraged  the  leaders  of  the  South  to  mature  their  plans, 
and  had  furnished  them  with  the  means  of  carrying  out  their 
design.  One  Minister  had  purposely  sent  away  the  navy  of 
the  United  States  to  distant  and  scattered  stations  ;  another 
had  purposely  placed  the  arms,  ordnance,  and  munitions  of 
war  in  undue  proportions  in  the  Southern  States,  and  had 
weakened  the  Federal  Government  so  that  they  might  easily 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  traitors  and  enable  them  to  secure  the 
war  materiel  of  the  Union ;  a  Minister  had  stolen  the  public 
funds  for  traitorous  purposes  —  in  every  port,  in  every  de 
partment  of  the  State,  at  home  and  abroad,  on  sea  and  by 
land,  men  were  placed  who  were  engaged  in  this  deep  conspir 
acy  —  and  when  the  voice  of  the  people  declared  Mr.  Lincoln 
President  of  the  United  States,  they  set  to  work  as  one  man  to 
destroy  the  Union  under  the  most  flimsy  pretexts.  The  Pres 
ident's  duty  was  clearly  defined  by  the  Constitution.  lie  had 
to  guard  what  he  had,  and  to  regain,  if  possible,  what  he  had 
lost.  He  would  not  consent  to  any  dismemberment  of  the 
Union  nor  to  the  abandonment  of  one  iota  of  Federal  property 
—  nor  could  he  do  so  if  he  desired. 

These  and  many  more  topics  were  presented  to  me  to  show 
that  the  Cabinet  was  not  accountable  for  the  temporizing  pol 
icy  of  inaction,  which  was  forced  upon  them  by  circumstances, 
and  that  they  would  deal  vigorously  with  the  Secession  move 
ment  —  as  vigorously  as  Jackson  did  with  nullification  in  South 
Carolina,  if  they  had  the  means.  But  what  could  they  do 
when  such  a  man  as  Twiggs  surrendered  his  trust  and  sacrificed 
the  troops  to  a  crowd  of  Texans ;  or  when  naval  and  military 
oiFicers  resigned  en  masse,  that  they  might  accept  service  in  the 


MR.  SEWARD'S  VIEWS.  61 

rebel  forces  ?  All  this  excitement  would  come  right  in  a  very 
short  time  —  it  was  a  brief  madness,  which  would  pass  away 
when  the  people  had  opportunity  for  reflection.  Meantime 
the  danger  was  that  foreign  powers  would  be  led  to  imagine 
the  Federal  Government  was  too  weak  to  defend  its  rights, 
and  that  the  attempt  to  destroy  the  Union  and  to  set  up  a 
Southern  Confederacy  was  successful.  In  other  words,  again, 
Mr.  Seward  fears  that,  in  this  transition  state  between  their 
forced  inaction  and  the  coup  by  which  they  intend  to  strike 
down  Secession,  Great  Britain  may  recognize  the  Government 
established  at  Montgomery,  and  is  ready,  if  needs  be,  to 
threaten  Great  Britain  with  war  as  the  consequence  of  such 
recognition.  But  he  certainly  assumed  the  existence  of  strong 
Union  sentiments  in  many  of  the  seceded  States,  as  a  basis  for 
his  remarks,  and  admitted  that  it  would  not  become  the  spirit 
of  the  American  Government,  or  of  the  Federal  system,  to  use 
armed  force  in  subjugating  the  Southern  States  against  the 
will  of  the  majority  of  the  people.  Therefore  if  the  majority 
desire  Secession,  Mr.  Seward  would  let  them  have  it  —  but  he 
cannot  believe  in  anything  so  monstrous,  for  to  him  the  Federal 
Government  and  Constitution,  as  interpreted  by  his  party,  are 
divine,  heaven-born.  He  is  fond  of  repeating  that  the  Fede 
ral  Government  never  yet  sacrificed  any  man's  life  on  account 
of  his  political  opinions  ;  but  if  this  struggle  goes  on,  it  will 
sacrifice  thousands  —  tens  of  thousands,  to  the  idea  of  a  Fede 
ral  Union.  "  Any  attempt  against  us,"  he  said,  "  would  revolt 
the  good  men  of  the  South,  and  arm  all  men  in  the  North  to 
defend  their  Government." 

But  I  had  seen  that  day  an  assemblage  of  men  doing  a 
goose-step  march  forth  dressed  in  blue  tunics  and  gray 
trousers,  shakoes  and  cross-belts,  armed  with  musket  and 
bayonet,  cheering  and  hurrahing  in  the  square  before  the  War 
Department,  who  were,  I  am  told,  the  District  of  Columbia 
volunteers  and  militia.  They  had  indeed  been  visible  in  vari 
ous  forms  parading,  marching,  and  trumpeting  about  the  town 
with  a  poor  imitation  of  French  pas  and  elan,  but  they  did 
not,  to  the  eye  of  a  soldier,  give  any  appearance  of  military 
efficiency,  or  to  the  eye  of  the  anxious  statesman  any  indica 
tion  of  the  animus  pugnandi.  Starved,  washed-out  creatures 
most  of  them,  interpolated  with  Irish  and  flat-footed,  stumpy 
Germans.  It  was  matter  for  wonderment  that  the  Foreign 
Minister  of  a  nation  which  was  in  such  imminent  danger  in 
its  very  capital,  and  which,  with  its  chief  and  his  cabinet,  was 


62  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

almost  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy,  should  hold  the  language 
I  was  aware  he  had  transmitted  to  the  most  powerful  nations 
of  Europe.  Was  it  consciousness  of  the  strength  of  a  great 
people,  who  would  be  united  by  the  first  apprehension  of 
foreign  interference,  or  was  it  the  peculiar  emptiness  of  a 
bombast  which  is  called  Buncombe  ?  In  all  sincerity  I  think 
Mr.  Seward  meant  it  as  it  was  written. 

When  I  arrived  at  the  hotel,  I  found  our  young  artist  wait 
ing  for  me,  to  entreat  I  would  permit  him  to  accompany  me 
to  the  South.  I  had  been  annoyed  by  a  paragraph  which  had 
appeared  in  several  papers,  to  the  effect  that  "  The  talented 
young  artist,  our  gifted  countryman,  Mr.  Deodore  F.  Moses, 
was  about  to  accompany  Mr.  &c.  &c.,  in  his  tour  through  the 
South."  I  had  informed  the  young  gentleman  that  I  could 
not  sanction  such  an  announcement,  whereupon  he  assured  me 
he  had  not  in  any  way  authorized  it,  but  having  mentioned  in 
cidentally  to  a  person  connected  with  the  press  that  he  was 
going  to  travel  southwards  with  me,  the  injudicious  zeal  of  his 
friend  had  led  him  to  think  he  would  do  a  service  to  the  youth 
by  making  the  most  of  the  very  trifling  circumstance. 

I  dined  with  Senator  Douglas,  where  there  was  a  large 
party,  among  whom  were  Mr.  Chase,  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury  ;  Mr.  Smith,  Secretary  of  the  Interior ;  Mr.  Forsyth, 
Southern  Commissioner ;  and  several  members  of  the  Senate 
and  Congress.  Mrs.  Douglas  did  the  honors  of  her  house 
with  grace  and  charming  good-nature.  I  observe  a  great  ten 
dency  to  abstract  speculation  and  theorizing  among  Americans, 
and  their  after-dinner  conversation  is  apt  to  become  didactic 
and  sententious.  Few  men  speak  better  than  Senator  Doug 
las  ;  his  words  are  well  chosen,  the  flow  of  his  ideas  even  and 
constant,  his  intellect  vigorous,  and  thoughts  well  cut,  precise, 
and  vigorous  —  he  seems  a  man  of  great  ambition,  and  he  told 
me  he  is  engaged  in  preparing  a  sort  of  Zollverein  scheme  for 
the  North  American  continent,  including  Canada,  which  will 
fix  public  attention  everywhere,  and  may  lead  to  a  settlement 
of  the  Northern  and  Southern  controversies.  For  his  mind, 
as  for  that  of  many  Americans,  the  aristocratic  idea  embodied 
in  Russia  is  very  seductive  ;  and  he  dwelt  with  pleasure  on 
the  courtesies  he  had  received  at  the  court  of  the  Czar,  imply 
ing  that  he  had  been  treated  differently  in  England,  and  per 
haps  France.  And  yet,  had  Mr.  Douglas  become  President 
of  the  United  States,  his  good-will  towards  Great  Britain  might 
have  been  invaluable,  and  surely  it  had  been  cheaply  pur- 


THE   SOUTHERN  COMMISSIONERS.  63 

chased  by  a  little  civility  and  attention  to  a  distinguished  citi 
zen  and  statesman  of  the  Republic.  Our  Galleos  very  often 
care  for  none  of  these  things. 

April  5th. — Dined  with  the  Southern  Commissioners  and 
a  small  party  at  Gautier's,  a  French  restaurateur  in  Pennsyl 
vania  Avenue.  The  gentlemen  present  were,  I  need  not  say, 
all  of  one  way  of  thinking ;  but  as  these  leaves  will  see  the 
light  before  the  civil  war  is  at  an  end,  it  is  advisable  not  to 
give  their  names,  for  it  would  expose  persons  resident  in 
Washington,  who  may  not  be  suspected  by  the  Government, 
to  those  marks  of  attention  which  they  have  not  yet  ceased  to 
pay  to  their  political  enemies.  Although  I  confess  that  in  my 
judgment  too  much  stress  has  been  laid  in  England  on  the  se 
verity  with  which  the  Federal  authorities  have  acted  towards 
their  political  enemies,  who  were  seeking  their  destruc 
tion,  it  may  be  candidly  admitted,  that  they  have  forfeited  all 
claim  to  the  lofty  position  they  once  occupied  as  a  Government 
existing  by  moral  force,  and  by  the  consent  of  the  governed, 
to  which  Bastilles  and  lettres  de  cachet,  arbitrary  arrests,  and 
doubtful,  illegal,  if  not  altogether  unconstitutional,  suspension 
of  habeas  corpus  and  of  trial  by  jury  were  unknown. 

As  Col.  Pickett  and  Mr.  Banks  are  notorious  Secessionists, 
and  Mr.  Phillips  has  since  gone  South,  after  the  arrest  of  his 
wife  on  account  of  her  anti-federal  tendencies,  it  may  be  permit 
ted  to  mention  that  they  were  among  the  guests.  I  had  pleasure 
in  making  the  acquaintance  of  Governor  Roman.  Mr.  Craw 
ford,  his  brother  commissioner,  is  a  much  younger  man,  of 
considerably  greater  energy  and  determination,  but  proba 
bly  of  less  judgment.  The  third  commissioner,  Mr.  Forsyth, 
is  fanatical  in  his  opposition  to  any  suggestions  of  compromise 
or  reconstruction ;  but,  indeed,  upon  that  point,  there  is  little 
difference  of  opinion  amongst  any  of  the  real  adherents  of  the 
South.  Mr.  Lincoln  they  spoke  of  with  contempt ;  Mr.  Sew- 
ard  they  evidently  regarded  as  the  ablest  and  most  unscrupu 
lous  of  their  enemies ;  but  the  tone  in  which  they  alluded  to 
the  whole  of  the  Northern  people  indicated  the  clear  convic 
tion  that  trade,  commerce,  the  pursuit  of  gain,  manufacture, 
and  the  base  mechanical  arts,  had  so  degraded  the  whole  race, 
they  would  never  attempt  to  strike  a  blow  in  fair  fight  for 
what  they  prized  so  highly  in  theory  and  in  words.  Whether 
it  be  in  consequence  of  some  secret  influence  which  slavery 
has  upon  the  minds  of  men,  or  that  the  aggression  of  the  North 
upon  their  institutions  has  been  of  a  nature  to  excite  the  deep- 


64  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

est  animosity  and  most  vindictive  hate,  certain  it  is  there  is  a 
degree  of  something  like  ferocity  in  the  Southern  mind  tow 
ards  New  England  which  exceeds  belief.  I  am  persuaded 
that  these  feelings  of  contempt  are  extended  towards  England. 
They  believe  that  we,  too,  have  had  the  canker  of  peace  upon 
us.  One  evidence  of  this,  according  to  Southern  men,  is  the 
abolition  of  duelling.  This  practice,  according  to  them,  is 
highly  wholesome  and  meritorious  ;  and,  indeed,  it  may  be 
admitted  that  in  the  state  of  society  which  is  reported  to  exist 
in  the  Southern  States,  it  is  a  useful  check  on  such  men  as  it 
restrained  in  our  own  islands  in  the  last  century.  In  thj 
course  of  conversation,  one  gentleman  remarked  that  he  con 
sidered  it  disgraceful  for  any  man  to  take  money  for  the  dis 
honor  of  his  wife  or  his  daughter.  "  With  us,"  he  said,  "  there 
is  but  one  mode  of  dealing  known.  The  man  who  dares  tam 
per  with  the  honor  of  a  white  woman,  knows  what  he  has  to 
expect.  We  shoot  him  down  like  a  dog,  and  no  jury  in  the 
South  will  ever  find  any  man  guilty  of  murder  for  punishing 
such  a  scoundrel."  An  argument  which  can  scarcely  be  allud 
ed  to  was  used  by  them,  to  show  that  these  offences  in  Slave 
States  had  not  the  excuse  which  might  be  adduced  to  diminish 
their  gravity  when  they  occurred  in  States  where  all  the  popu 
lation  were  white.  Indeed,  in  this,  as  in  some  other  matters 
of  a  similar  character,  slavery  is  their  summum  bonum  of  mo 
rality,  physical  excellence,  and  social  purity.  I  was  inclined 
to  question  the  correctness  of  the  standard  which  they  had  set 
up,  and  to  inquire  whether  the  virtue  which  needed  this  mur 
derous  use  of  the  pistol  and  the  dagger  to  defend  it,  was  not 
open  to  some  doubt ;  but  I  found  there  was  very  little  sym 
pathy  with  my  views  among  the  company. 

The  gentlemen  at  table  asserted  that  the  white  men  in 
the  Slave  States  are  physically  superior  to  the  men  of  the 
Free  States  ;  and  indulged  in  curious  theories  in  morals  and 
physics  to  which  I  was  a  stranger.  Disbelief  of  anything  a 
Northern  man  —  that  is,  a  llepublican  —  can  say,  is  a  fixed 
principle  in  their  minds.  I  could  not  help  remarking,  when 
the  conversation  turned  on  the  duplicity  of  Mr.  Seward,  and 
the  wickedness  of  the  Federal  Government  in  refusing  to  give 
the  assurance  Sumter  would  not  be  relieved  by  force  of  arms, 
that  it  must  be  of  very  little  consequence  what  promises  Mr. 
Seward  made,  as,  according  to  them,  not  the  least  reliance  was 
to  be  placed  on  his  word.  The  notion  that  the  Northern  men 
are  cowards  is  justified  by  instances  in  which  congressmen 


THE  SOUTHERN  COMMISSIONERS.  65 

have  been  insulted  by  Southern  men  without  calling  them  out, 
and  Mr.  Sumner's  case  was  quoted  as  the  type  of  the  affairs 
of  the  kind  between  the  two  sides. 

I  happened  to  say  that  I  always  understood  Mr.  Sumner 
had  been  attacked  suddenly  and  unexpectedly,  and  struck 
down  before  he  could  rise  from  his  desk  to  defend  himself ; 
whereupon  a  warm  refutation  of  that  version  of  the  story 
was  given,  and  I  was  assured  that  Mr.  Brooks,  who  was  a 
very  slight  man,  and  much  inferior  in  height  to  Mr.  Sumner, 
struck  him  a  slight  blow  at  first,  and  only  inflicted  the  heavier 
strokes  when  irritated  by  the  Senator's  cowardly  demeanor. 
In  reference  to  some  remark  made  about  the  cavaliers  and 
their  connection  with  the  South,  I  reminded  the  gentleman 
that,  after  all,  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans  were  not  to  be 
despised  in  battle :  and  that  the  best  gentry  in  England  were 
worsted  at  last  by  the  train-bands  of  London,  and  the  "  rab- 
bledom  "  of  Cromwell's  Independents. 

Mr.,  or  Colonel,  Pickett,  is  a  tall  good-looking  man,  of 
pleasant  manners,  and  well-educated.  But  this  gentleman 
was  a  professed  buccaneer,  a  friend  of  Walker,  the  gray-eyed 
man  of  destiny  —  his  comrade  in  his  most  dangerous  razzie. 
He  was  a  newspaper  writer,  a  soldier,  a  filibuster  ;  and  he 
now  threw  himself  into  the  cause  of  the  South  with  vehe 
mence  ;  it  was  not  difficult  to  imagine  he  saw  in  that  cause 
the  realization  of  the  dreams  of  empire  in  the  south  of  the 
Gulf,  and  of  conquest  in  the  islands  of  the  sea,  which  have 
such  a  fascinating  influence  over  the  imagination  of  a  large 
portion  of  the  American  people.  He  referred  to  Walker's 
fate  with  much  bitterness,  and  insinuated  he  was  betrayed  by 
the  British  officer  \vho  ought  to  have  protected  him. 

The  acts  of  Mr.  Floyd  and  Mr.  Howell  Cobb,  which  must 
be  esteemed  of  doubtful  morality,  are  here  justified  by  the 
States'  Rights  doctrine.  If  the  States  had  a  right  to  go  out, 
they  were  quite  right  in  obtaining  their  quota  of  the  national 
property  which  would  not  have  been  given  to  them  by  the 
Lincolnites.  Therefore,  their  friends  were  not  to  be  censured 
because  they  had  sent  arms  and  money  to  the  South. 

Altogether  the  evening,  notwithstanding  the  occasional 
warmth  of  the  controversy,  was  exceedingly  instructive  ;  one 
could  understand  from  the  vehemence  and  force  of  the  speak 
ers  the  full  meaning  of  the  phrase  of  "  firing  the  Southern 
heart."  so  often  quoted  as  an  illustration  of  the  peculiar  force 
of  political  passion  to  be  brought  to  bear  against  the  Repub- 


66  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

licans  in  the  Secession  contest.  Mr.  Forsyth,  struck  me  as 
being  the  most  astute,  and  perhaps  most  capable,  of  the  gen 
tlemen  whose  mission  to  Washington  seems  likely  to  be  so 
abortive.  His  name  is  historical  in  America  —  his  father 
filled  high  office,  and  his  son  has  also  exercised  diplomatic 
function.  Despotisms  and  Republics  of  the  American  model 
approach  each  other  closely.  In  Turkey  the  Pasha  unem 
ployed  sinks  into  insignificance,  and  the  son  of  the  Pasha 
deceased  is  literally  nobody.  Mr.  Forsyth  was  not  selected 
as  Southern  Commissioner  on  account  of  the  political  status 
acquired  by  his  father  ;  but  the  position  gained  by  his  owr 
ability,  as  editor  of  "  The  Mobile  Register,"  induced  the 
Confederate  authorities  to  select  him  for  the  post.  It  is  quite 
possible  to  have  made  a  mistake  in  such  matters,  but  I  am 
almost  certain  that  the  colored  waiters  who  attended  us  at 
table  looked  as  sour  and  discontented  as  could  be,  and  seemed 
to  give  their  service  with  a  sort  of  protest.  I  am  told  that 
the  tradespeople  of  Washington  are  strongly  inclined  to  favor 
the  Southern  side. 

April  6th.  —  To-day  I  paid  a  second  visit  to  General  Scott, 
who  received  me  very  kindly,  and  made  many  inquiries 
respecting  the  events  in  the  Crimea  and  the  Indian  mutiny 
and  rebellion.  He  professed  to  have  no  apprehension  for  the 
safety  of  the  capital ;  but  in  reality  there  are  only  some  700 
or  800  regulars  to  protect  it  and  the  Navy  Yard,  and  two  field- 
batteries,  commanded  by  an  officer  of  very  doubtful  attach 
ment  to  the  Union.  The  head  of  the  Navy  Yard  is  openly 
accused  of  treasonable  sympathies. 

Mr.  Seward  has  definitively  refused  to  hold  any  intercourse 
whatever  with  the  Southern  Commissioners,  and  they  will  re 
tire  almost  immediately  from  the  capital.  As  matters  look 
very  threatening,  I  must  go  South  and  see  with  my  own  eyes 
how  affairs  stand  there,  before  the  two  sections  come  to  open 
rupture.  Mr.  Seward,  the  other  day,  in  talking  of  the  South, 
described  them  as  being  in  every  respect  behind  the  age,  with 
fashions,  habits,  level  of  thought,  and  modes  of  life,  belonging 
to  the  worst  part  of  the  last  century.  But  still  he  never  has 
been  there  himself!  The  Southern  men  come  up  to  the 
Northern  cities  and  springs,  but  the  Northerner  rarely  travels 
southwards.  Indeed,  I  am  informed,  that  if  he  were  a  well- 
known  Abolitionist,  it  would  not  be  safe  for  him  to  appear  in  a 
Southern  city.  I  quite  agree  with  my  thoughtful  and  earnest 
friend,  Olmsted,  that  the  United  States  can  never  be  con- 


OFFICE-SEEKERS.  67 

sidered  as  a  free  country  till  a  man  can  speak  as  freely  in 
Charleston  as  he  can  in  New  York  or  Boston. 

I  dined  with  Mr.  Riggs,  the  banker,  who  had  an  agreeable 
party  to  meet  me.  Mr.  Corcoran,  his  former  partner,  who 
was  present,  erected  at  his  own  cost,  and  presented  to  the  city, 
a  fine  building,  to  be  used  as  an  art-gallery  and  museum ;  but 
as  yet  the  arts  which  are  to  be  found  in  Washington  are  politi 
cal  and  feminine  only.  Mr.  Corcoran  has  a  private  gallery  of 
pictures,  and  a  collection,  in  which  is  the  much-praised  Greek 
Slave  of  Hiram  Powers.  The  gentry  of  Columbia  are 
thoroughly  Virginian  in  sentiment,  and  look  rather  south  than 
north  of  the  Potomac  for  political  results.  The  President,  I 
hear  this  evening,  is  alarmed  lest  Virginia  should  become  hos 
tile,  and  his  policy,  if  he  has  any,  is  temporizing  and  timid.  It 
is  perfectly  wonderful  to  hear  people  using  the  word  "  Gov 
ernment  "  at  all,  as  applied  to  the  President  and  his  cabinet  — 
a  body  which  has  no  power  "  according  to  the  constitution  "to 
save  the  country  governed  or  itself  from  destruction.  In  fact, 
from  the  circumstances  under  which  the  constitution  was 
framed,  it  was  natural  that  the  principal  point  kept  in  view 
should  be  the  exhibition  of  a  strong  front  to  foreign  powers, 
combined  with  the  least  possible  amount  of  constriction  on  the 
internal  relations  of  the  different  States. 

In  the  hotel  the  roar  of  office-seekers  is  unabated.  Train 
after  train  adds  to  their  numbers.  They  cumber  the  passages. 
The  hall  is  crowded  to  such  a  degree  that  suffocation  might 
describe  the  degree  to  which  the  pressure  reaches,  were  it  not 
that  tobacco-smoke  invigorates  and  sustains  the  constitution. 
As  to  the  condition  of  the  floor  it  is  beyond  description. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

New  York  Press — Rumors  as  to  the  Southerners  —  Visit  to  the  Smith 
sonian  Institute  —  Pythons  —  Evening  at  Mr.  Seward's  —  Eough 
draft  of  official  despatch  to  Lord  J.  llussell  —  Estimate  of  its  effect 
in  Europe  —  The  attitude  of  Virginia. 

April  1th.  —  Raining  all  day,  cold  and  wet.  I  am  tired 
and  weary  of  this  perpetual  jabber  about  Fort  Sumter. 
Men  here  who  know  nothing  at  all  of  what  is  passing  send 
letters  to  the  New  York  papers,  which  are  eagerly  read  by 
the  people  in  Washington  as  soon  as  the  journals  reach  the 
city,  and  then  all  these  vague  surmises  are  taken  as  gospel, 
and  argued  upon  as  if  they  were  facts.  The  "  Herald  "  keeps 
up  the  courage  and  spirit  of  its  Southern  friends  by  giving 
the  most  florid  accounts  of  their  prospects,  and  making  con 
tinual  attacks  on  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  government ;  but  the 
majority  of  the  New  York  papers  are  inclined  to  resist  Seces 
sion  and  aid  the  Government.  I  dined  with  Lord  Lyons  in 
the  evening,  and  met  Mr.  Sumner,  Mr.  Blackwell,  the  man 
ager  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway  of  Canada,  his  wife,  and 
the  members  of  the  Legation.  After  dinner  I  visited  M.  de 
Stoeckl,  the  Russian  Minister,  and  M.  Tassara,  the  Minister 
of  Spain,  who  had  small  receptions.  There  were  few  Ameri 
cans  present.  As  a  rule,  the  diplomatic  circle,  which  has,  by- 
the-by,  no  particular  centre,  radii,  or  circumference,  keeps  its 
\  members  pretty  much  within  itself.  The  great  people  here 
are  mostly  the  representatives  of  the  South  American  powers, 
who  are  on  more  intimate  relations  with  the  native  families 
in  Washington  than  are  the  transatlantic  ministers. 

April  8th.  —  How  it  does  rain !  Last  night  there  were 
torrents  of  water  in  the  streets  literally  a  foot  deep.  It  still 
runs  in  muddy  whirling  streams  through  the  channels,  and  the 
rain  is  falling  incessantly  from  a  dull  leaden  sky.  The  air  is 
warm  and  clammy.  There  are  all  kind  of  rumors  abroad, 
and  the  barbers'  shops  shook  with  "  shaves "  this  morning. 
Sumter,  of  course,  was  the  main  topic.  Some  reported  that 
the  President  had  promised  the  Southern  Commissioners, 


SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTE.  69 

through  their  friend  Mr.  Campbell,  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  not  to  use  force  in  respect  to  Pickens  or  Sumter.  I 
wrote  to  Mr.  Seward,  to  ask  him  if  he  could  enable  me  to 
make  any  definite  statement  on  these  important  matters. 
The  Southerners  are  alarmed  at  the  accounts  they  have  re 
ceived  of  great  activity  and  preparations  in  the  Brooklyn  and 
Boston  navy  yards,  and  declare  that  "  treachery "  is  meant. 
I  find  myself  quite  incapable  of  comprehending  their  position. 
How  can  the  United  States  Government  be  guilty  of  "  treach 
ery  "  toward  subjects  of  States  which  are  preparing  to  assert 
their  independence,  unless  that  Government  has  been  guilty 
of  falsehood  or  admitted  the  justice  of  the  decision  to  which 
the  States  had  arrived  ? 

As  soon  as  I  had  finished  my  letters,  I  drove  over  to  the 
Smithsonian  Institute,  and  was  most  kindly  received  by  Pro 
fessor  Henry,  who  took  me  through  the  library  and  museum, 
and  introduced  me  to  Professor  Baird,  who  is  great  in  natural 
history,  and  more  particularly  in  ornithology.  I  promised 
the  professors  some  skins  of  Himalayan  pheasants,  as  an  addi 
tion  to  the  collection.  In  the  library  we  were  presented  to 
two  very  fine  and  lively  rock  snakes,  or  pythons,  I  believe, 
some  six  feet  long  or  more,  which  moved  about  with  much 
grace  and  agility,  putting  out  their  forked  tongues  and  hissing 
sharply  when  seized  by  the  hand  or  menaced  with  a  stick.  I 
was  told  that  some  persons  doubted  if  serpents  hissed ;  I  can 
answer  for  it  that  rock  snakes  do  most  audibly.  They  are 
not  venomous,  but  their  teeth  are  sharp  and  needle  like. 
The  eye  is  bright  and  glistening ;  the  red  forked  tongue,  when 
protruded,  has  a  rapid  vibratory  motion,  as  if  it  were  moved 
by  the  muscles  which  produce  the  quivering  hissing  noise.  I 
was  much  interested  by  Professor  Henry's  remarks  on  the 
large  map  of  the  continent  of  North  America  in  his  study : 
he  pointed  out  the  climatic  conditions  which  determined  the 
use,  profits,  and  necessity  of  slave  labor,  and  argued  that  the 
vast  increase  of  population  anticipated  in  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  the  prophecies  of  imperial  greatness  attached 
to  it,  were  fallacious.  He  seems  to  be  of  opinion  that  most 
of  the  good  land  of  America  is  already  cultivated,  and  that 
the  crops  which  it  produces  tend  to  exhaust  it,  so  as  to  compel 
the  cultivators  eventually  to  let  it  go  fallow  or  to  use  manure. 
The  fact  is,  that  the  influence  of  the  great  mountain-chain  in 
the  west,  which  intercepts  all  the  rain  on  the  Pacific  side, 
causes  an  immense  extent  of  country  between  the  eastern 


70  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

slope  of  the  chain  and  the  Mississippi,  as  well  as  the  district 
west  of  Minnesota,  to  be  perfectly  dry  and  uninhabitable ; 
and,  as  far  as  we  know,  it  is  as  worthless  as  a  moor,  except 
for  the  pasturage  of  wild  cattle  and  the  like. 

On  returning  to  my  hotel,  I  found  a  note  from  Mr.  Seward, 
asking  me  to  visit  him  at  nine  o'clock.  On  going  to  his  house, 
I  was  shown  to  the  drawing-room,  and  found  there  only  the 
Secretary  of  State,  his  son,  and  Mrs.  Seward.  I  made  a 
parti  carre  for  a  friendly  rubber  of  whist,  and  Mr.  Seward, 
who  was  my  partner,  talked  as  he  played,  so  that  the  score  of 
the  game  was  not  favorable.  But  his  talk  was  very  interest 
ing.  "  All  the  preparations  of  which  you  hear  mean  this  only. 
The  Government,  finding  the  property  of  the  State  and  Fed 
eral  forts  neglected  and  left  without  protection,  are  deter 
mined  to  take  steps  to  relieve  them  from  that  neglect,  and  to 
protect  them.  But  we  are  determined  in  doing  so  to  make  no 
aggression.  The  President's  inaugural  clearly  shadows  out 
our  policy.  We  will  not  go  beyond  it  —  we  have  no  inten 
tion  of  doing  so  —  nor  will  we  withdraw  from  it."  After  a 
time  Mr.  Seward  put  down  his  cards,  and  told  his  son  to  go 
for  a  portfolio  which  he  would  find  in  a  drawer  of  his  table. 
Mrs.  Seward  lighted  the  drop  light  of  the  gas,  and  on  her 
husband's  return  with  the  paper  left  the  room.  The  Secre 
tary  then  lit  his  cigar,  gave  one  to  me,  and  proceeded  to  read 
slowly  and  with  marked  emphasis,  a  very  long,  strong,  and 
able  despatch,  which  he  told  me  was  to  be  read  by  Mr.  Adams, 
the  American  Minister  in  London,  to  Lord  John  Russell.  It 
struck  me  that  the  tone  of  the  paper  was  hostile,  that  there 
was  an  undercurrent  of  menace  through  it,  and  that  it  con 
tained  insinuations  that  Great  Britain  would  interfere  to  split 
up  the  Republic,  if  she  could,  and  was  pleased  at  the  prospect 
of  the  dangers  which  threatened  it. 

At  all  the  stronger  passages  Mr.  Seward  raised  his  voice, 
and  made  a  pause  at  their  conclusion  as  if  to  challenge  remark 
or  approval.  .  At  length  I  could  not  help  saying,  that  the  de 
spatch  would,  no  doubt,  have  an  excellent  effect  when  it  came 
to  light  in  Congress,  and  that  the  Americans  would  think 
highly  of  the  writer ;  but  I  ventured  to  express  an  opinion 
that  it  would  not  be  quite  so  acceptable  to  the  Government 
and  people  of  Great  Britain.  This  Mr.  Seward,  as  an  Amer 
ican  statesman,  had  a  right  to  make  but  a  secondary  consider 
ation.  By  affecting  to  regard  Secession  as  a  mere  political 
heresy  which  can  be  easily  confuted,  and  by  forbidding  foreign 


MR.   SEWARD  AND  SECESSION.  71 

countries  alluding  to  it,  Mr.  Seward  thinks  he  can  establish 
the  supremacy  of  his  own  Government,  and  at  the  same  time 
gratify  the  vanity  of  the  people.  Even  war  with  us  may  not 
be  out  of  the  list  of  those  means  which  would  be  available  for 
re-fusing  the  broken  union  into  a  mass  once  more.  However, 
the  Secretary  is  quite  confident  in  what  he  calls  "  reaction." 
"  When  the  Southern  States,"  he  says,  "  see  that  we  mean 
them  no  wrong  —  that  we  intend  no  violence  to  persons,  rights, 
or  things  —  that  the  Federal  Government  seeks  only  to  fulfil 
obligations  imposed  on  it  in  respect  to  the  national  property, 
they  will  see  their  mistake,  and  one  after  another  they  will 
come  back  into  the  union."  Mr.  Seward  anticipates  this  pro 
cess  will  at  once  begin,  and  that  Secession  will  all  be  done 
and  over  in  three  months  —  at  least,  so  he  says.  It  was  after 
midnight  ere  our  conversation  was  over,  much  of  which  of 
course  I  cannot  mention  in  these  pages. 

April  Sth.  —  A  storm  of  rain,  thunder,  and  lightning.  The 
streets  are  converted  into  watercourses.  From  the  country 
we  hear  of  bridges  washed  away  by  inundations,  and  roads 
rendered  impassable.  Accounts  from  the  South  are  gloomy, 
but  the  turba  jRemi  in  Willard's  are  as  happy  as  ever,  at  least 
as  noisy  and  as  greedy  of  place.  By-the-by,  I  observe  that 
my  prize-fighting  friend  of  the  battered  nose  has  been  re 
warded  for  his  exertions  at  last.  He  has  been  standing  drinks 
all  round  till  he  is  not  able  to  stand  himself,  and  he  has  ex 
pressed  his  determination  never  to  forget  all  the  people  in  the 
passage.  I  dined  at  the  Legation  in  the  evening,  where  there 
was  a  small  party,  and  returned  to  the  hotel  in  torrents  of 
rain. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Dinner  at  General  Scott's  —  Anecdotes  of  General  Scott's  Early  Life — 
The  Startling  Despatch — Insecurity  of  the  Capital. 

April  10th.  —  To-day  I  devoted  to  packing  up  such  things 
as  I  did  not  require,  and  sending  them  to  New  York.  I  re 
ceived  a  characteristic  note  from  General  Scott,  asking  me  to 
dine  with  him  to-morrow,  and  apologizing  for  the  shortness 
of  his  invitation,  which  arose  from  his  only  having  just  heard 
that  I  was  about  to  leave  so  soon  for  the  South.  The  Gen 
eral  is  much  admired  by  his  countrymen,  though  they  do  not 
spare  some  "  amiable  weaknesses  ; "  but,  in  my  mind,  he  can 
only  be  accused  of  a  little  vanity,  which  is  often  found  in 
characters  of  the  highest  standard.  He  likes  to  display  his 
reading,  and  is  troubled  with  a  desire  to  indulge  in  fine  writ 
ing.  Some  time  ago  he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  "  National 
Intelligencer,"  in  which  he  quoted  Shakespeare  and  Paley  to 
prove  that  President  Buchanan  ought  to  have  garrisoned  the 
forts  at  Charleston  and  Pensacola,  as  he  advised  him  to  do  ; 
and  he  has  been  the  victim  of  poetic  aspirations.  The  Gen 
eral's  dinner  hour  was  early ;  and  when  I  arrived  at  his  mod 
est  lodgings,  which,  however,  were  in  the  house  of  a  famous 
French  cook,  I  found  a  troop  of  mounted  volunteers  of  the 
district,  parading  up  and  down  the  street.  They  were  not 
ba.d  of  their  class,  and  the  horses,  though  light,  were  active, 
hardy,  and  spirited  ;  but  the  men  put  on  their  uniforms  bad 
ly,  wore  long  hair,  their  coats  and  buttons  and  boots  were 
unbrushed,  and  the  horses'  coats  and  accoutrements  bore  evi 
dence  of  neglect.  The  General,  who  wore  an  undress  blue 
frock-coat,  with  eagle-covered  brass  buttons,  and  velvet  collar 
and  cuffs,  was  with  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Bates,  the  Attorney- 
General,  and  received  me  very  courteously.  He  was  inter 
rupted  by  cheering  from  the  soldiers  in  the  street,  and  by 
clamors  for  "  General  Scott."  He  moves  with  difficulty, 
owing  to  a  fall  from  his  horse,  and  from  the  pressure  of  in 
creasing  years ;  and  he  evidently  would  not  have  gone  out 


DINNER  AT  GENERAL  SCOTT'S.  73 

if  he  could  have  avoided  it.  But  there  is  no  privacy  for  pub 
lic  men  in  America. 

But  the  General  went  to  them,  and  addressed  a  few  words 
to  his  audience  in  the  usual  style  about  "  rallying  round,"  and 
"dying  gloriously,"  and  "old  flag  of  our  country,"  and  all 
that  kind  of  thing  ;  after  which,  the  band  struck  up  "  Yankee 
Doodle."  Mr.  Seward  called  out,  "  General,  make  them  play 
the  i  Star-Spangled  Banner,'  and  '  Hail  Columbia.' "  And  so 
I  was  treated  to  the  strains  of  the  old  bacchanalian  chant, 
"  When  Bibo,"  &c.,  which  the  Americans  have  impressed  to 
do  duty  as  a  national  air.  Then  came  an  attempt  to  play 
"  God  save  the  Queen,"  which  I  duly  appreciated  as  a  com 
pliment  ;  and  then  followed  dinner,  which  did  credit  to  the 
cook,  and  wine,  which  was  most  excellent,  from  France, 
Spain,  and  Madeira.  The  only  addition  to  our  party  was 
Major  Cullum,  aide-de-camp  to  General  Scott,  an  United 
States'  engineer,  educated  at  West  Point.  The  General  un 
derwent  a  little  badinage  about  the  phrase  "  a  hasty  plate  of 
soup,"  which  he  used  in  one  of  his  despatches  during  the 
Mexican  War,  and  he  appealed  to  me  to  decide  whether  it 
was  so  erroneous  or  ridiculous  as  Mr.  Seward  insisted.  I 
said  I  was  not  a  judge,  but  certainly  similar  liberal  usage  of 
a  wrell-known  figure  of  prosody  might  be  found  to  justify  the 
phrase.  The  only  attendants  at  table  were  the  General's 
English  valet  and  a  colored  servant ;  and  the  table  apparatus 
which  bore  such  good  things  was  simple  and  unpretending. 
Of  course  the  conversation  was  of  a  general  character,  and 
the  General,  evidently  picking  out  his  words  with  great  pre 
cision,  took  the  lead  in  it,  telling  anecdotes  of  great  length, 
graced  now  and  then  with  episodes,  and  fortified  by  such 
episodes  as  —  "  Bear  with  me,  dear  sir,  for  a  while,  that  I 
may  here  diverge  from  the  main  current  of  my  story,  and 
proceed  to  mention  a  curious "  &c.,  and  so  on. 

To  me  his  conversation  was  very  interesting,  particularly 
that  portion  which  referred  to  his  part  in  the  last  war,  where 
he  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  He  gave  an  account  of 
the  Battle  of  Chippewa,  which  was,  he  said,  fought  on  true 
scientific  principles ;  and  in  the  ignorance  common  to  most 
Englishmen  of  reverses  to  their  arms,  I  was  injudicious 
enough,  when  the  battle  was  at  its  height,  and  whole  masses 
of  men  were  moving  in  battalions  and  columns  over  the  table, 
to  ask  how  many  were  engaged.  The  General  made  the 
most  of  his  side :  "  We  had,  sir,  twenty-one  hundred  and  sev- 
4 


74  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

enty-five  men  in  the  field/'  He  told  us  how.  when  the  Brit 
ish  men-of-war  provoked  general  indignation  in  Virginia  by 
searching  American  vessels  for  deserters  in  the  Chesapeake, 
the  State  of  Virginia  organized  a  volunteer  force  to  guard  the 
shores,  and,  above  all  things,  to  prevent  the  country  people 
sending  down  supplies  to  the  vessels,  in  pursuance  of  the 
orders  of  the  Legislature  and  Governor.  Young  Scott,  then 
reading  for  the  bar,  became  corporal  of  a  troop  of  these  pa 
trols.  One  night,  as  they  were  on  duty  by  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac,  they  heard  a  boat  with  muffled  oars  coming  rapidly 
down  the  river,  and  soon  saw  her  approaching  quite  close  to 
the  shore  under  cover  of  the  trees.  When  she  was  abreast 
of  the  troopers,  Scott  challenged  "  What  boat  is  that  ?  " 
"  It's  His  Majesty's  ship  '  Leopard,'  and  what  the  d  -  is 
that  to  you  ?  Give  way,  my  lads  !  "  "I  at  once  called  on 
him  to  surrender,"  said  the  General,  "  and  giving  the  word  to 
charge,  we  dashed  into  the  water.  Fortunately,  it  was  not 
deep,  and  the  midshipman  in  charge,  taken  by  surprise  by  a 
superior  force,  did  not  attempt  to  resist  us.  We  found  the 
boat  manned  by  four  sailors,  and  filled  with  vegetables  and 
other  supplies,  and  took  possession  of  it  ;  and  I  believe  it  is 
the  first  instance  of  a  man-of-war's  boat  being  captured  by 
cavalry.  The  Legislature  of  Virginia,  however,  did  not  ap 
prove  of  the  capture,  and  the  officer  was  given  up  accord- 


"Many  years  afterwards,  when  I  visited  Europe,  I  hap 
pened  to  be  dining  at  the  hospitable  mansion  of  Lord  Holland, 
and  observed  during  the  banquet  that  a  gentleman  at  table 
was  scrutinizing  my  countenance  in  a  manner  indicative  of 
some  special  curiosity.  Several  times,  as  my  eye  wandered 
in  his  direction,  I  perceived  that  he  had  been  continuing  his 
investigations,  and  at  length  I  rebuked  him  by  a  continuous 
glance.  After  dinner,  this  gentleman  came  round  to  me  and 
said,  '  General  Scott,  I  hope  you  will  pardon  my  rudeness  in 
staring  at  you,  but  the  fact  is  that  you  bear  a  most  remarkable 
resemblance  to  a  great  overgrown,  clumsy  country  fellow  of 
the  same  name,  who  took  me  prisoner  in  my  boat  when  I  was 
a  midshipman  in  the  "  Chesapeake,"  at  the  head  of  a  body  of 
mounted  men.  He  was,  I  remember  quite  well,  Corporal 
Scott.'  'That  Corporal  Scott,  sir,  and  the  individual  who 
addresses  you,  are  identical  one  with  the  other.'  The  officer 
whose  acquaintance  I  thus  so  auspiciously  renewed,  was 
Captain  Fox,  a  relation  of  Lord  Holland,  and  a  post-captain 
in  the  British  navy." 


CONVERSATION  AND  ANECDOTES.         75 

Whilst  he  was  speaking,  a  telegraphic  despatch  was  brought 
in,  which  the  General  perused  with  evident  uneasiness.  He 
apologized  to  me  for  reading  it  by  saying  the  despatch  was 
from  the  President  on  Cabinet  business,  and  then  handed  it 
across  the  table  to  Mr.  Seward.  The  Secretary  read  it,  and 
became  a  little  agitated,  and  raised  his  eyes  inquiringly  to  the 
General's  face,  who  only  shook  his  head.  Then  the  paper  was 
given  to  Mr.  Bates,  who  read  it,  and  gave  a  grunt,  as  it  were, 
of  surprise.  The  General  took  back  the  paper,  read  it  twice 
over,  and  then  folded  it  up  and  put  it  in  his  pocket.  "  You 
had  better  not  put  it  there,  General,"  interposed  Mr.  Seward ; 
"  it  will  be  getting  lost,  or  in  some  other  hands."  And  so  the 
General  seemed  to  think,  for  he  immediately  threw  it  into  the 
fire,  before  which  certain  bottles  of  claret  were  gently  mel 
lowing. 

The  communication  was  evidently  of  a  very  unpleasant 
character.  In  order  to  give  the  Ministers  opportunity  for  a 
conference,  I  asked  Major  Cullum  to  accompany  me  into  the 
garden,  and  lighted  a  cigar.  As  I  was  walking  about  in  the 
twilight,  I  observed  two  figures  at  the  end  of  the  little  enclo 
sure,  standing  as  if  in  concealment  close  to  the  wall.  Major 
Cullum  said,  "  The  men  you  see  are  sentries  I  have  thought  it 
expedient  to  place  there  for  the  protection  of  the  General. 
The  villains  might  assassinate  him,  and  would  do  it  in  a  mo 
ment  if  they  could.  He  would  not  hear  of  a  guard,  nor  any 
thing  of  the  sort,  so,  without  his  knowing  it,  I  have  sentries 
posted  all  round  the  house  all  night.  This  was  a  curious 
state  of  things  for  the  commander  of  the  American  army,  in 
the  midst  of  a  crowded  city,  the  capital  of  the  free  and  enlight 
ened  Republic,  to  be  placed  in  !  On  our  return  to  the  sitting- 
room,  the  conversation  was  continued  some  hour  or  so  longer. 
I  retired  with  Mr.  Seward  in  his  carriage.  As  we  were 
going  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue  —  almost  lifeless  at  that  time 
—  I  asked  Mr.  Seward  whether  he  felt  quite  secure  against 
any  irruption  from  Virginia,  as  it  was  reported  that  one  Ben 
McCullough,  the  famous  Texan  desperado,  had  assembled 
500  men  at  Richmond  for  some  daring  enterprise  :  some  said 
to  carry  off  the  President,  cabinet,  and  all.  He  replied  that, 
although  the  capital  was  almost  defenceless,  it  must  be  remem 
bered  that  the  bold  bad  men  who  were  their  enemies  were 
equally  unprepared  for  active  measures  of  aggression. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Preparation  for  war  at  Charlestown  —  My  own  departure  for  the  South 
ern  States  —  Arrival  at  Baltimore  —  Commencement  of  hostilities 
at  Fort  Sumter  —  Bombardment  of  the  Fort  —  General  feeling  as 
to  North  and  South  —  Slavery  —  First  impressions  of  the  City  of 
Baltimore  —  Departure  by  steamer. 

April  12th.  —  This  morning  I  received  an  intimation  that 
the  Government  had  resolved  on  taking  decisive  steps  which 
would  lead  to  a  development  of  events  in  the  South  and  test 
the  sincerity  of  Secession.  The  Confederate  general  at 
Charleston,  Beauregard,  has  sent  to  the  Federal  officer  in 
command  at  Sumter,  Major  Anderson,  to  say,  that  all  commu 
nication  between  his  garrison  and  the  city  must  cease ;  and, 
at  the  same  time,  or  probably  before  it,  the  Government  at 
Washington  informed  the  Confederate  authorities  that  they 
intended  to  forward  supplies  to  Major  Anderson,  peaceably  if 
permitted,  but  at  all  hazards  to  send  them.  The  Charleston 
people  are  manning  the  batteries  they  have  erected  against 
Sumter,  have  fired  on  a  vessel  under  the  United  States  flag, 
endeavoring  to  communicate  with  the  fort,  and  have  called  out 
and  organized  a  large  force  in  the  islands  opposite  the  place 
and  in  the  city  of  Charleston. 

I  resolved,  therefore,  to  start  for  the  Southern  States  to-day, 
proceeding  by  Baltimore  to  Norfolk  instead  of  going  by  Rich 
mond,  which  was  cut  off  by  the  floods.  Before  leaving,  I 
visited  Lord  Lyons,  Mr.  Seward,  the  French  and  Russian 
Ministers  ;  left  cards  on  the  President,  Mrs.  Lincoln,  General 
Scott,  Mr.  Douglas,  Mr.  Sumner,  and  others.  There  was  no 
appearance  of  any  excitement  in  Washington,  but  Lord  Lyons 
mentioned,  as  an  unusual  circumstance,  that  he  had  received 
no  telegraphic  communication  from  Mr.  Bunch,  the  British 
Consul  at  Charleston.  Some  ladies  said  to  me  that  when  I 
came  back  I  would  find  some  nice  people  at  Washington,  and 
that  the  rail-splitter,  his  wife,  the  Sewards,  and  all  the  rest  of 
them,  would  be  driven  to  the  place  where  they  ought  to  be : 
"  Varina  Davis  is  a  lady,  at  all  events,  not  like  the  other. 


ARRIVAL  AT  BALTIMORE.  77 

We  can't  put  up  with  such  people  as  these  !  "  A  naval  officer 
whom  I  met,  told  me,  "  if  the  Government  are  really  going 
to  try  force  at  Charleston,  you'll  see  they'll  be  beaten,  and 
we'll  have  a  war  between  the  gentlemen  and  the  Yankee  row 
dies  ;  if  they  attempt  violence,  you  know  how  that  will  end." 
The  Government  are  so  uneasy  that  they  have  put  soldiers 
into  the  Capitol,  and  are  preparing  it  for  defence. 

At  6  p.  M.  I  drove  to  the  Baltimore  station  in  a  storm  of 
rain,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Warre,  of  the  British  Legation. 
In  the  train  there  was  a  crowd  of  people,  many  of  them  dis 
appointed  place-hunters,  and  much  discussion  took  place  re 
specting  the  propriety  of  giving  supplies  to  Sumter  by  force, 
the  weight  of  opinion  being  against  the  propriety  of  such  a 
step.  The  tone  in  which  the  President  and  his  cabinet  were 
spoken  of  was  very  disrespectful.  One  big  man,  in  a  fur  coat, 
who  was  sitting  near  me,  said,  "  Well,  darn  me  if  I  wouldn't 
draw  a  bead  on  Old  Abe,  Seward  —  aye,  or  General  Scott 
himself,  though  I've  got  a  perty  good  thing  out  of  them,  if 
they  due  try  to  use  their  soldiers  and  sailors  to  beat  down 
States'  Rights.  If  they  want  to  go  they've  a  right  to  go." 
To  which  many  said,  '"  That's  so  !  That's  true  !  " 

When  we  arrived  at  Baltimore,  at  8  P.  M.,  the  streets  were 
deep  in  water.  A  coachman,  seeing  I  was  a  stranger,  asked 
me  two  dollars,  or  85.  4d.,  to  drive  to  the  Eutaw  House,  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  distance ;  but  I  was  not  surprised,  as  I  had 
paid  three-and-a-half  and  four  dollars  to  go  to  dinner  and  re 
turn  to  the  hotel  in  Washington.  On  my  arrival,  the  land 
lord,  no  less  a  person  than  a  major  or  colonel,  took  me  aside, 
and  asked  me  if  I  had  heard  the  news.  "No,  what  is  it?" 
"  The  President  of  the  Telegraph  Company  tells  me  he  has 
received  a  message  from  his  clerk  at  Charleston  that  the  bat 
teries  have  opened  fire  on  Sumter  because  the  Government 
has  sent  down  a  fleet  to  force  in  supplies."  The  news  had, 
however,  spread.  The  hall  and  bar  of  the  hotel  were  full, 
and  I  was  asked  by  many  people  whom  I  had  never  seen  in 
my  life,  what  my  opinions  were  as  to  the  authenticity  of  the 
rurnor.  There  was  nothing  surprising  in  the  fact  that  the 
Charleston  people  had  resented  any  attempt  to  reinforce  the 
forts,  as  I  was  aware,  from  the  language  of  the  Southern. 
Commissioners,  that  they  would  resist  any  such  attempt  to  the 
last,  and  make  it  a  casus  and  causa  belli. 

April  14:th.  —  The  Eutaw  House  is  not  a  very  good  speci 
men  of  an  American  hotel,  but  the  landlord  does  his  best  to 


78  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

make  his  guests  comfortable,  when  he  likes  them.  The 
American  landlord  is  a  despot  who  regulates  his  dominions  by 
ukases  affixed  to  the  walls,  by  certain  state  departments  called 
"  offices  "  and  "  bars,"  and  who  generally  is  represented,  whilst 
he  is  away  on  some  military,  political,  or  commercial  under 
taking,  by  a  lieutenant;  the  deputy  being,  if  possible,  a 
greater  man  than  the  chief.  It  requires  so  much  capital  to 
establish  a  large  hotel,  that  there  is  little  fear  of  external  com 
petition  in  the  towns.  And  Americans  are  so  gregarious  that 
they  will  not  patronize  small  establishments. 

I  was  the  more  complimented  by  the  landlord's  attention 
this  morning  when  he  came  to  the  room,  and  in  much  excite 
ment  informed  me  the  news  of  Fort  Sumter  being  bombarded 
by  the  Charleston  batteries  was  confirmed,  "And  now,"  said 
he,  "  there's  no  saying  where  it  will  all  end." 

After  breakfast  I  was  visited  by  some  gentlemen  of  Balti 
more,  who  were  highly  delighted  with  the  news,  and  I  learned 
from  them  there  was  a  probability  of  their  State  joining  those 
which  had  seceded.  The  whole  feeling  of  the  landed  and 
respectable  classes  is  with  the  South.  The  dislike  to  the 
Federal  Government  at  Washington  is  largely  spiced  with 
personal  ridicule  and  contempt  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Your  Mary- 
lander  is  very  tenacious  about  being  a  gentleman,  and  what  he 
does  not  consider  gentlemanly  is  simply  unfit  for  any  thing,  far 
less  for  place  and  authority. 

The  young  draftsman,  of  whom  I  spoke,  turned  up  this 
morning,  having  pursued  me  from  Washington.  He  asked 
me  whether  I  would  still  let  him  accompany  me.  I  observed 
that  I  had  no  objection,  but  that  I  could  not  permit  such  para 
graphs  in  the  papers  again,  and  suggested  there  would  be  no 
difficulty  in  his  travelling  by  himself,  if  he  pleased.  He  re 
plied  that  his  former  connection  with  a  Black  Republican 
paper  might  lead  to  his  detention  or  molestation  in  the  South, 
but  that  if  he  was  allowed  to  come  with  me,  no  one  would 
doubt  that  he  was  employed  by  an  illustrated  London  paper. 
The  young  gentleman  will  certainly  never  lose  any  thing  for 
the  want  of  asking. 

At  the  black  barber's  I  was  meekly  interrogated  by  my 
attendant  as  to  my  belief  in  the  story  of  the  bombardment. 
He  was  astonished  to  find  a  stranger  could  think  the  event 
was  probable.  "  De  geri'lemen  of  Baltimore  will  be  quite 
glad  ov  it.  But  maybe  it'll  come  bad  after  all."  I  discovered 
my  barber  had  strong  ideas  that  the  days  of  slavery  were 


DESCRIPTION  OF  BALTIMORE.  79 

drawing  to  an  end.  "  And  what  will  take  place  then,  do  you 
think  ? "  "  Wall,  sare,  'spose  colored  men  will  be  good  as 
white  men."  That  is  it.  They  do  not  understand  what  a 
vast  gulf  flows  between  them  and  the  equality  of  position  with 
the  white  race  which  most  of  those  who  have  aspirations 
imagine  to  be  meant  by  emancipation.  He  said  the  town 
slave-owners  were  very  severe  and  harsh  in  demanding 
larger  sums  than  the  slaves  could  earn.  The  slaves  are  sent 
out  to  do  jobs,  to  stand  for  hire,  to  work  on  the  quays  and 
docks.  Their  earnings  go  to  the  master,  who  punishes  them 
if  they  do  riot  bring  home  enough.  Sometimes  the  master  is 
content  with  a  fixed  sum,  and  all  over  that  amount  which  the 
slave  can  get  may  be  retained  for  his  private  purposes. 

Baltimore  looks  more  ancient  and  respectable  than  the 
towns  1  have  passed  through,  and  the  site  on  which  it  stands 
is  undulating,  so  that  the  houses  have  not  that  flatness  and 
uniformity  of  height  which  make  the  streets  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  resemble  those  of  a  toy  city  magnified. 
Why  Baltimore  should  be  called  the  "Monumental  City" 
could  not  be  divined  by  a  stranger.  He  would  never  think 
that  a  great  town  of  250,000  inhabitants  could  derive  its 
name  from  an  obelisk  cased  in  white  marble  to  George 
Washington,  even  though  it  be  more  than  200  feet  high,  nor 
from  the  grotesque  column  called  "  Battle  Monument," 
erected  to  the  memory  of  those  who  fell  in  the  skirmish  out 
side  the  city  in  which  the  British  were  repulsed  in  1814.  I 
could  not  procure  any  guide  to  the  city  worth  reading,  and 
strolled  about  at  discretion,  after  a  visit  to  the  Maryland 
Club,  of  which  I  was  made  an  honorary  member.  At  dark  I 
started  for  Norfolk  in  the  steamer  "  Georgiana." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Scenes  on  board  an  American  steamer  —  The  "Merrimac"  —  Irish 
sailors  in  America  —  Norfolk  —  A  telegram  on  Sunday;  news 
from  the  seat  of  war  —  American  "chaff"  and  our  Jack  Tars. 

Sunday,  April  14.  —  A  night  of  disturbed  sleep,  owing  to 
the  ponderous  thumping  of  the  walking  beam  close  to  my 
head,  the  whizzing  of  steam,  and  the  roaring  of  the  steam- 
trumpet  to  warn  vessels  out  of  the  way  —  mosquitoes,  too, 
had  a  good  deal  to  say  to  me  in  spite  of  my  dirty  gauze 
curtains.  Soon  after  dawn  the  vessel  ran  alongside  the  jetty 
at  Fortress  Monroe,  and  I  saw  indistinctly  the  waterface 
of  the  work  which  is  in  some  danger  of  being  attacked,  it  is 
said,  by  the  Virginians.  There  was  no  flag  on  the  staff 
above  the  walls,  and  the  place  looked  dreary  and  desolate. 
It  has  a  fine  bastioned  profile,  with  moat  and  armed  lunettes 
—  the  casemates  were  bricked  up  or  occupied  by  glass 
windows,  and  all  the  guns  I  could  make  out  were  on  the 
parapets.  A  few  soldiers  were  lounging  on  the  jetty,  and 
after  we  had  discharged  a  tipsy  old  officer,  a  few  negroes, 
and  some  parcels,  the  steam-pipe  brayed  —  it  does  not  whis 
tle  —  again,  and  we  proceeded  across  the  mouth  of  the 
channel  and  James  River  towards  Elizabeth  River,  on  which 
stand  Portsmouth  and  Gosport. 

Just  as  I  was  dressing,  the  door  opened,  and  a  tall,  neatly 
dressed  negress  came  in  and  asked  me  for  my  ticket.  She 
told  me  she  was  ticket-collector  for  the  boat,  and  that  she  was 
a  slave.  The  latter  intelligence  was  given  without  any  re 
luctance  or  hesitation.  On  my  way  to  the  upper  deck  I  ob 
served  the  bar  was  crowded  by  gentlemen  engaged  in  con 
suming,  or  wailing  for,  cocktails  or  mint-juleps.  The  latter, 
however,  could  not  be  had  just  now  in  such  perfection  as 
usual,  owing  to  the  inferior  condition  of  the  mint.  In  the 
matter  of  drinks,  how  hospitable  the  Americans  are  !  I  was 
asked  to  take  as  many  as  would  have  rendered  me  incapable 
of  drinking  again;  my  excuse  on  the  plea  of  inability  to 


NORFOLK  NAVY  YARD.  81 

grapple  with  cocktails  and  the  like  before  breakfast,  was 
heard  with  surprise,  and  I  was  urgently  entreated  to  abandon 
so  bad  a  habit. 

A  clear,  fine  sun  rose  from  the  waters  of  the  bay  up  into 
the  purest  of  pure  blue  skies.  On  our  right  lay  a  low  coast 
fringed  with  trees,  and  wooded  densely  with  stunted  forest, 
through  which  creeks  could  be  seen  glinting  far  through  the 
foliage.  Anxious  looking  little  wooden  lighthouses,  hard  set 
to  preserve  their  equilibrium  in  the  muddy  waters,  and  bent 
at  various  angles,  marked  the  narrow  channels  to  the  towns 
and  hamlets  on  the  banks,  the  principal  trade  and  occupation 
of  which  are  oyster  selling  and  oyster  eating.  We  are 
sailing  over  wondrous  deposits  and  submarine  crops  of  the 
much-loved  bivalve.  Wooden  houses  painted  white  appear 
on  the  shores,  and  one  large  building  with  wings  and  a  cen 
tral  portico  surmounted  by  a  belvedere,  destined  for  the 
reception  of  the  United  States  sailors  in  sickness,  is  a  strik 
ing  object  in  the  landscape. 

The  steamer  in  a  few  minutes  came  along-side  a  dirty, 
broken-down,  wooden  quay,  lined  with  open  booths,  on  which 
a  small  crowd,  mostly  of  negroes,  had  gathered.  Behind  the 
shed  there  rose  tiled  and  shingled  roofs  of  mean  dingy  houses, 
and  we  could  catch  glimpses  of  the  line  of  poor  streets,  nar 
row,  crooked,  ill-paved,  surmounted  by  a  few  church-steeples, 
and  the  large  sprawling  advertisement-boards  of  the  tobacco- 
stores  and  oyster-sellers,  which  was  all  we  could  see  of  Ports 
mouth  or  Gosport.  Our  vessel  was  in  a  narrow  creek  ;  at 
one  side  was  the  town  —  in  the  centre  of  the  stream  the  old 
"  Pennsylvania,"  intended  to  be  of  120  guns,  but  never  com 
missioned,  and  used  as  receiving  ship,  was  anchored  —  along 
side  the  wall  of  the  Navy  Yard  below  us,  lay  the  "  Merri- 
rnac,"  apparently  in  ordinary.  The  only  man-of-war  fit  for 
sen  was  a  curiosity  —  a  stumpy  bluff-bowed,  Dutch-built  look 
ing  sloop,  called  the  "  Cumberland."  Two  or  three  smaller 
vessels,  dismasted,  were  below  the  "  Merrimac,"  and  we  could 
just  see  the  building-sheds  in  which  were  one  or  two  others, 
I  believe,  on  the  stocks.  A  fleet  of  oyster-boats  anchored,  or 
in  sailless  observance  of  the  Sunday,  dotted  the  waters. 
There  was  an  ancient  and  fishlike  smell  about  the  town  worthy 
of  its  appearance  and  of  its  functions  as  a  seaport.  As  the 
vessel  came  close  along-side,  there  was  the  usual  greeting  be 
tween  friends,  and  many  a  cry,  "  Well,  you've  heard  the  news  ? 
The  Yankees  out  of  Sumter !  Isn't  it  fine  ! "  There  were 
4* 


82  MY   DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

few  who  did  not  participate  in  that  sentiment,  but  there  were 
some  who  looked  black  as  night  and  said  nothing. 

Whilst  we  were  waiting  for  the  steam  ferry-boat,  which 
plies  to  Norfolk  at  the  other  side  of  the  creek,  to  take  us  over, 
a  man-of-war  boat  pulled  along-side,  and  the  coxswain,  a  hand 
some,  fine-looking  sailor,  came  on  deck,  and,  as  I  happened  to 
be  next  him,  asked  me  if  Captain  Blank  had  come  down  with 
us?  I  replied,  that  I  did  not  know,  but  that  the  captain 
could  tell  him  no  doubt.  u  He  ? "  said  the  sailor,  pointing 
with  great  disgust  to  the  skipper  of  the  steamer.  "  Why  he 
knows  nothin'  of  his  passengers,  except  how  many  dollars 
they  come  to,"  and  started  off  to  prosecute  his  inquiries  among 
the  other  passengers.  The  boat  along-side  was  clean,  and 
was  manned  by  six  as  stout  fellows  as  ever  handled  an  oar. 
Two  I  made  sure  of  were  Englishmen,  and  when  the  cox 
swain  was  retiring  from  his  fruitless  search,  I  asked  him 
where  he  hailed  from.  "  The  Cove  of  Cork.  I  was  in  the 
navy  nine  years,  but  when  I  got  on  the  West  Ingy  Station,  I 
heerd  how  Uncle  Sam  treated  his  fellows,  and  so  I  joined 
him."  "  Cut  and  run,  I  suppose  ?"  "  Well,  not  exactly.  I 
got  away,  sir.  Emigrated,  you  know  !  "  "  Are  there  any  other 
Irishmen  or  Englishmen  on  board  ? "  "I  should  think  there 
was.  That  man  in  the  bow  there  is  a  mate  of  mine,  from  the 
sweet  Cove  of  Cork  ;  Driscoll  by  name,  and  there's  a  Belfast 
man  pulls  number  two ;  and  the  stroke,  and  the  chap  that 
pulls  next  to  him  is  Englishmen,  and  fine  sailors  they 
are,  Bates  and  Rookey.  They  were  in  men-of-war  too." 
"  What !  five  out  of  seven,  British  subjects  ! "  "  Oh,  ay, 
that  is  —  we  onst  was  —  most  of  us  now  are  'Mericans,  I 
think.  There's  plenty  more  of  us  aboard  the  ship." 

The  steam  ferry  was  a  rickety  affair,  and  combined  with 
the  tumble-down  sheds  and  quays  to  give  a  poor  idea  of 
Norfolk.  The  infliction  of  tobacco-juice  on  board  was  re 
markable.  Although  it  was  but  seven  o'clock  every  one  had 
his  quid  in  working  order,  and  the  air  was  filled  with  yellow 
ish-brown  rainbows  and  liquid  parabolas,  which  tumbled  in 
spray  or  in  little  flocks  of  the  weed  on  the  foul  decks.  As  it 
was  Sunday,  some  of  the  numerous  flagstaffs  which  adorn  the 
houses  in  both  cities  displayed  the  United  States  bunting ; 
but  nothing  could  relieve  the  decayed  air  of  Norfolk.  The 
omnibus  which  was  waiting  to  receive  us  must  have  been  the 
earliest  specimen  of  carriage  building  in  that  style  on  the 
continent;  and  as  it  lunged  and  flopped  over  the  prodigious 


THE  ATLANTIC  HOTEL.  83 

bad  pavement,  the  severe  nature  of  which  was  aggravated  by 
a  street  railway,  it  opened  the  seams  as  if  it  were  going  to 
fall  into  firewood.  The  shops  were  all  closed,  of  course  ;  but 
the  houses,  wooden  and  brick,  were  covered  with  signs  and 
placards  indicative  of  large  trade  in  tobacco  and  oysters. 

Poor  G.  P.  R.  James,  who  spent  many  years  here,  could 
have  scarce  caught  a  novel  from  such  a  place,  spite  of  great 
oy.-ters,  famous  wild  fowl,  and  the  lauded  poultry  and  vege 
tables  which  are  produced  in  the  surrounding  district?.  There 
is  not  a  hill  for  the  traveller  to  ascend  towards  the  close  of  a 
summer's  day,  nor  a  moated  castle  for  a  thousand  miles  around. 
An  execrable,  tooth-cracking  drive  ended  at  last  in  front  of  the 
Atlantic  Hotel,  where  I  was  doomed  to  take  up  my  quarters. 
It  is  a  dilapidated,  uncleanly  place,  with  tobacco-stained  floor, 
full  of  flies  and  strong  odors.  The  waiters  were  all  slaves : 
untidy,  slipshod,  and  careless  creatures.  I  was  shut  up  in  a 
small  room,  with  the  usual  notice  on  the  door,  that  the  propri 
etor  would  not  be  responsible  for  anything,  and  that  you  were 
to  lock  your  doors  for  fear  of  robbers,  and  that  you  must  take 
your  meals  at  certain  hours,  and  other  matters  of  the  kind. 
My  umbra  went  over  to  Gosport  to  take  some  sketches,  he 
said  ;  and  after  a  poor  meal,  in  a  long  room  filled  with  "  cit 
izens,"  all  of  them  discussing  Sumter,  I  went  out  into  the 
street. 

The  people,  I  observe,  are  of  a  new  and  marked  type,  — 
very  tall,  loosely  yet  powerfully  made,  with  dark  complex 
ions,  strongly-marked  features,  prominent  noses,  large  angular 
mouths  in  square  jaws,  deep-seated  bright  eyes,  low,  narrow 
foreheads,  —  and  are  all  of  them  much  given  to  ruminate 
tobacco.  The  bells  of  the  churches  were  tolling,  and  I  turned 
into  one;  but  the  heat,  great  enough  outside,  soon  became 
nearly  intolerable ;  nor  was  it  rendered  more  bearable  by  my 
proximity  to  some  blacks,  who  were,  I  presume,  servants  or 
slaves  of  the  great  people  in  the  forward  pews.  The  clergy 
man  or  minister  had  got  to  the  Psalms,  when  a  bustle  arose 
near  the  door  which  attracted  his  attention,  and  caused  all  to 
turn  round.  Several  persons  were  standing  up  and  whispering, 
whilst  others  were  stealing  on  tiptoe  out  of  the  church.  The 
influence  extended  itself  gradually  and  all  the  men  near  the 
door  were  leaving  rapidly.  The  minister,  obviously  interested, 
continued  to  read,  raising  his  eyes  towards  the  door.  At  last 
the  persons  near  him  rose  up  and  walked  boldly  forth,  and  I 
at  length  followed  the  example,  and  getting  into  the  street, 


84  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

saw  men  running  towards  the  hotel.  "  What  is  it  ?  "  exclaimed 
I  to  one.  "  Come  along,  the  telegraph's  in  at  the  *  Day  Book.' 
The  Yankees  are  whipped!"  and  so  continued.  I  came  at 
last  to  a  crowd  of  men,  struggling,  with  their  faces  toward  the 
wall  of  a  shabby  house,  increased  by  fresh  arrivals,  and  di 
minished  by  those  who,  having  satisfied  their  curiosity,  came 
elbowing  forth  in  a  state  of  much  excitement,  exultation,  and 
perspiration.  "  It's  all  right  enough !  "  "  Didn't  I  tell  you 
so?"  "Bully  for  Beauregard  and  the  Palmetto  State!"  I 
shoved  on,  and  read  at  last  the  programme  of  the  cannonade 
and  bombardment,  and  of  the  effects  upon  the  fort,  on  a  dirty 
piece  of  yellowish  paper  on  the  wall.  It  was  a  terrible  writing. 
At  all  the  street  corners  men  were  discussing  the  news  with 
every  symptom  of  joy  and  gratification.  Now  I  confess  I 
could  not  share  in  the  excitement  at  all.  The  act  seemed  to 
me  the  prelude  to  certain  war. 

I  walked  up  the  main  street,  and  turned  up  some  of  the  al 
leys  to  have  a  look  at  the  town,  coming  out  on  patches  of  water 
and  bridges  over  the  creeks,  or  sandy  lanes  shaded  by  trees, 
and  lined  here  and  there  by  pretty  wooden  villas,  painted  in 
bright  colors.  Everywhere  negroes,  male  and  female,  gaudily 
dressed  or  in  rags  ;  the  door-steps  of  the  narrow  lanes  swarm 
ing  with  infant  niggerdom  —  big-stomached,  curve-legged, 
rugged-headed,  and  happy  —  tumbling  about  dim-eyed  tooth 
less  hags,  or  thick-lipped  mothers.  Not  a  word  were  they 
talking  about  Sumter.  "Any  news  to-day?"  said  I  to  a  re 
spectable-looking  negro  in  a  blue  coat  and  brass  buttons, 
wonderful  hat,  and  vest  of  amber  silk,  check  trousers,  and 
very  broken-down  shoes.  "  Well,  sare,  I  tink  nothin'  much 
occur.  Der  hem  afire  at  Squire  Nichol's  house  last  night ; 
least  way  so  I  hear,  sare."  Squire,  let  me  say  parenthetically, 
is  used  to  designate  justices  of  the  peace.  Was  it  a  very 
stupid  poco-curante,  or  a  very  cunning,  subtle  Sambo? 

In  my  walk  I  arrived  at  a  small  pier,  covered  with  oyster 
shells,  which  projected  into  the  sea.  Around  it,  on  both  sides, 
were  hosts  of  schooners  and  pungys,  smaller  half-decked  boats, 
waiting  for  their  load  of  the  much-loved  fish  for  Washington, 
Baltimore,  and  Richmond.  Some  brigs  and  large  vessels  lay 
along-side  the  wharves  and  large  warehouses  higher  up  the 
creek.  Observing  a  small  group  at  the  end  of  the  pier,  I 
walked  on,  and  found  that  they  consisted  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
well-dressed  mechanical  kind  of  men,  busily  engaged  in  "  chaf 
fing,"  as  Cockneys  would  call  it,  the  crew  of  the  man-of-war 


AN  INCIPIENT  ROW.  85 

boat  I  had  seen  in  the  morning.  The  sailors  were  stretched 
on  the  thwarts,  some  rather  amused,  others  sullen  at  the  or 
deal.  "  You  better  just  pull  down  that  cussed  old  rag  of 
yours,  and  bring  your  old  ship  over  to  the  Southern  Confed 
eracy.  I  guess  we  can  take  your  *  Cumberland  '  whenever 
we  like  !  Why  don't  you  go,  and  touch  off  your  guns  at 
Charleston  ? "  Presently  the  coxswain  came  down  with  a 
parcel  under  his  arm,  and  stepped  into  the  boat.  "  Give  way, 
my  lads  ; "  and  the  oars  dipped  in  the  water.  When  the  boat 
had  gone  a  few  yards  from  the  shore,  the  crowd  cried  out : 
"  Down  with  the  Yankees !  Hurrah  for  the  Southern  Con 
federacy  ! "  and  some  among  them  threw  oyster  shells  at  the 
boat,  one  of  which  struck  the  coxswain  on  the  head.  "  Back 
water !  Back  water  all.  Hard ! "  he  shouted  ;  and  as  the 
boat's  stern  neared  the  land,  he  stood  up  and  made  a  leap  in 

among  the  crowd  like  a  tiger.     "  You  cowardly  d d  set. 

Who  threw  the  shells  ? "  No  one  answered  at  first,  but  a 
little  wizened  man  at  last  squeaked  out :  "  I  guess  you'll  have 
shells  of  another  kind  if  you  remain  here  much  longer."  The 
sailor  howled  with  rage  :  "  Why,  you  poor  devils,  I'd  whip 
any  half-dozen  of  you,  —  teeth,  knives,  and  all  —  in  five  min 
utes  ;  and  my  boys  there  in  the  boat  would  clear  your  whole 
town.  What  do  you  mean  by  barking  at  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  ?  Do  you  see  that  ship  ?  "  he  shouted,  pointing  tow 
ards  the  "  Cumberland."  "  Why  the  lads  aboard  of  her 
would  knock  every  darned  seceder  in  your  State  into  a 
cocked  hat  in  a  brace  of  shakes !  And  now  who's  coining 
on  ?  "  The  invitation  was  not  accepted,  and  the  sailor  with 
drew,  with  his  angry  eyes  fixed  on  the  people,  who  gave  him 
a  kind  of  groan  ;  but  there  were  no  oyster  shells  this  time. 
"•  In  spite  of  his  blowing,  I  tell  yer,"  said  one  of  them,  "  there's 
some  good  men  from  old  Virginny  abo'rd  o'  that  ship  that  will 
never  fire  a  shot  agin  us."  "  Oh,  we'll  fix  her  right  enough," 
remarked  another,  "  when  the  time  comes."  I  returned  to 
my  room,  sat  down,  and  wrote  for  some  hours.  The  dinner 
in  the  Atlantic  Hotel  was  of  a  description  to  make  one  wish 
the  desire  for  food  had  never  been  invented.  My  neighbor 
said  he  was  not  "  quite  content  about  this  Sumter  business. 
There's  nary  one  killed  nor  wownded." 

Sunday  is  a  very  dull  day  in  Norfolk,  —  no  mails,  no  post, 
no  steamers ;  and,  at  the  best,  Norfolk  must  be  dull  exceed 
ingly.  The  superintendent  of  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke  Rail 
way,  having  heard  that  I  was  about  proceeding  to  Charleston, 


86  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

called  upon  me  to  offer  every  facility  in  his  power.  Sent 
Moses  with  letters  to  post-office.  At  night  the  mosquitoes 
were  very  aggressive  and  successful.  This  is  the  first  place 
in  which  the  bedrooms  are  unprovided  with  gas.  A  mutton 
dip  almost  made  me  regret  the  fact. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

Portsmouth  —  Railway  journey  through  the  forest — The  great  Dis 
mal  Swamp —  American  newspapers  —  Cattle  on  the  line  —  Ne 
gro  labor  —  On  through  the  Pine  Forest — The  Confederate  flag 

—  Goldsborough ;   popular  excitement  —  Weldon  —  Wilmington 

—  The  Vigilance  Committee. 

Monday,  April  15. —  Up  at  dawn.  Crossed  by  ferry  to 
Portsmouth,  and  arrived  at  railway  station,  which  was  at  no 
place  in  particular,  in  a  street  down  which  the  rails  were  laid. 
Mr.  Robinson,  the  superintendent,  gave  me  permission  to  take 
a  seat  in  the  engine  car,  to  which  I  mounted  accordingly,  was 
duly  introduced  to,  and  shook  hands  with  the  engineer  and 
the  stoker,  and  took  my  seat  next  the  boiler.  Can  any  solid 
reason  be  given  why  we  should  not  have  those  engine  sheds 
or  cars  in  England  ?  They  consist  of  a  light  frame  placed  on 
the  connection  of  the  engine  with  the  tender,  and  projecting 

/so  as  to  include  the  end  of  the  boiler  and  the  stoke-hole. 
They  protect  the  engineer  from  rain,  storm,  sun,  or  dust. 
Windows  at  each  side  afford  a  clear  view  in  all  directions, 
and  the  engineer  can  step  out  on  the  engine  itself  by  the 
doors  on  the  front  part  of  the  shed.  There  is  just  room  for 
four  persons  to  sit  uncomfortably,  the  persons  next  the  boiler 
being  continually  in  dread  of  roasting  their  legs  at  the  fur 
nace,  and  those  next  the  tender  being  in  danger  of  getting 
logs  of  wood  from  it  shaken  down  on  their  feet.  Neverthe 
less  I  rarely  enjoyed  anything  more  than  that  trip.  It  is  true 
one's  enjoyment  was  marred  by  want  of  breakfast,  for  I  could 
not  manage  the  cake  of  dough  and  the  cup  of  bitter,  sour, 
greasy  nastiness,  called  coffee,  which  were  presented  to  me  in 
lieu  of  that  meal  this  morning. 

But  the  novelty  of  the  scene  through  which  I  passed  atoned 
for  the  small  privation.  I  do  not  speak  of  the  ragged  streets 
and  lines  of  sheds  through  which  the  train  passed,  with  the 
great  bell  of  the  engine  tolling  as  if  it  were  threatening  death 
to  the  early  pigs,  cocks,  hens,  and  negroes  and  dogs  which 


88  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

walked  between  the  rails  —  the  latter,  by  the  by,  were  always 
the  first  to  leave  —  the  negroes  generally  divided  with  the 
pigs  the  honor  of  making  the  nearest  stand  to  the  train  —  nor 
do  I  speak  of  the  miserable  suburbs  of  wooden  shanties,  nor 
of  the  expanse  of  inundated  lands  outside  the  town.  Passing 
all  these,  we  settled  down  at  last  to  our  work :  the  stoker  fired 
up,  the  engine  rattled  along  over  the  rugged  lane  between  the 
trees  which  now  began  to  sweep  around  us  from  the  horizon, 
where  they  rose  like  the  bank  of  a  river  or  the  shores  of  a 
sea,  and  presently  we  plunged  into  the  gloom  of  the  primeval 
forest,  struggling  as  it  were,  with  the  last  wave  of  the  deliige. 

The  railroad,  leaving  the  land,  boldly  leaped  into  the  air, 
and  was  carried  on  frailest  cobweb-seeming  tracery  of  wood 
far  above  black  waters,  from  which  rose  a  thick  growth  and 
upshooting  of  black  stems  of  dead  trees,  mingled  with  the 
trunks  and  branches  of  others  still  living,  throwing  out  a  most 
luxuriant  vegetation.  The  trestle-work  over  which  the  train 
was  borne,  judged  by  the  eye,  was  of  the  slightest  possible 
construction.  Sometimes  one  series  of  trestles  was  placed 
above  another,  so  that  the  cars  ran  on  a  level  with  the  tops 
of  the  trees ;  and,  looking  down,  we  could  see  before  the  train 
passed  the  inky  surface  of  the  waters,  broken  into  rings  and 
agitated,  round  the  beams  of  wood.  The  trees  were  draped 
with  long  creepers  and  shrouds  of  Spanish  moss,  which  fell 
from  branch  to  branch,  smothering  the  leaves  in  their  clammy 
embrace,  or  waving  in  pendulous  folds  in  the  air.  Cypress, 
live-oak,  the  dogwood,  and  pine  struggled  for  life  with  the 
water,  and  about  their  stems  floated  balks  of  timber,  waifs  and 
strays  carried  from  the  rafts  by  flood,  or  the  forgotten  spoils  of 
the  lumberer.  On  these  lay  tortoises,  turtles,  and  enormous 
frogs,  which  lifted  their  heads  with  a  lazy  curiosity  when  the 
train  rushed  by,  or  flopped  into  the  water  as  if  the  sight  and 
noise  were  too  much  for  their  nerves.  Once  a  dark  body  of 
greater  size  plashed  into  the  current  which  marked  the  course 
of  a  river.  "  There's  many  allygaitors  come  up  here  at  times," 
said  the  engineer,  in  reply  to  my  question ;  "  but  I  don't  take 
much  account  of  them." 

When  the  trestle-work  ceased,  the  line  was  continued 
through  the  same  description  of  scenery,  generally  in  the 
midst  of  water,  on  high  embankments  which  were  continually 
cut  by  black  rapid  streams,  crossed  by  bridges  on  trestles  of 
great  span.  The  strange  tract  we  are  passing  through  is  the 
"  Dismal  Swamp,"  a  name  which  must  have  but  imperfectly 


AN  AMERICAN  ENGINEER.  89 

expressed  its  horrors  before  the  railway  had  traversed  its  out 
skirts,  and  the  canal,  which  is  constructed  in  its  midst,  left 
traces  of  the  presence  of  man  in  that  remnant  of  the  world's 
exit  from  the  flood.  In  the  centre  of  this  vast  desolation  there 
is  a  large  loch,  called  "  Lake  Drummond,"  in  the  jungle  and 
brakes  around  which  the  runaway  slaves  of  the  plantations 
long  harbored,  and  once  or  twice  assembled  bands  of  depreda 
tors,  which  were  hunted  down,  broken  up,  and  destroyed  like 
wild  beasts. 

Mr.  Robinson,  a  young  man  some  twenty-seven  years  of 
age,  was  an  excellent  representative  of  the  young  American 
—  full  of  intelligence,  well-read,  a  little  romantic  in  spite  of 
his  practical  habits  and  dealing  with  matters  of  fact,  much  at 
tached  to  the  literature,  if  not  to  the  people,  of  the  old  coun 
try  ;  and  so  far  satisfied  that  English  engineers  knew  some 
thing  of  their  business,  as  to  be  anxious  to  show  that  American 
engineers  were  not  behind  them.  He  asked  me  about  Wash 
ington  politics  with  as  much  interest  as  if  he  had  never  read  a 
newspaper.  I  made  a  remark  to  that  effect.  "  Oh,  sir,  we 
can't  believe,"  exclaimed  he,  "  a  word  we  read  in  our  papers. 
They  tell  a  story  one  day,  to  contradict  it  the  next.  We  never 
know  when  to  trust  them,  and  that's  one  reason,  I  believe, 
yea  find  us  all  so  anxious  to  ask  questions  and  get  informa- 
t'on  from  gentlemen  we  meet  travelling."  Of  the  future  he 
jpoke  with  apprehension ;  "  but,"  said  he,  "  I  am  here  repre 
senting  the  interests  of  a  large  number  of  Northern  sharehold 
ers,  and  I  will  do  my  best  for  them.  If  it  comes  to  blows 
after  this,  they  will  lose  all,  and  I  must  stand  by  my  own 
friends  down  South,  though  I  don't  belong  to  it." 

So  we  rattle  on,  till  the  scene,  at  first  so  attractive,  becomes 
dreary  and  monotonous,  and  I  tire  of  looking  out  for  larger 
turtles  or  more  alligators.  The  silence  of  these  woods  is  op 
pressive.  There  is  no  sign  of  life  where  the  train  passes 
through  the  water,  except  among  the  amphibious  creatures. 
After  a  time,  however,  when  we  draw  out  of  the  swamp  and 
get  into  a  dry  patch,  wild,  ragged-looking  cattle  may  be  seen 
staring  at  us  through  the  trees,  or  tearing  across  the  rail,  and 
herds  of  porkers,  nearly  in  the  wild-boar  stage,  scuttle  over 
the  open.  Then  the  engineer  opens  the  valve  ;  the  sonorous 
roar  of  the  engine  echoes  though  the  woods,  and  now  and  then 
there  is  a  little  excitement  caused  by  a  race  between  a  pig 
and  the  engine,  and  piggy  is  occasionally  whipped  off  his  legs 
by  the  cow-lifter,  and  hoisted  volatile  into  the  ditch  at  one 


90  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

side.  When  a  herd  of  cattle,  however,  get  on  the  line  and 
show  fight,  the  matter  is  serious.  The  steam  horn  is  sounded, 
the  bell  rung,  and  steam  is  eased  oft',  and  every  means  used  to 
escape  collision  ;  for  the  railway  company  is  obliged  to  pay 
the  owner  for  whatever  animals  the  trains  kill,  and  a  cow's 
body  on  one  of  these  poor  rails  is  an  impediment  sufficient  to 
throw  the  engine  off,  and  u  send  us  to  immortal  smash." 

It  was  long  before  we  saw  any  workmen  or  guards  on  the 
line  ;  but  at  one  place  I  got  out  to  look  at  a  shanty  of  one  of 
the  road  watchmen.  It  was  a  building  of  logs,  some  twenty  feet 
long  by  twelve  feet  broad,  made  in  the  rudest  manner,  with  an 
earthen  roof,  and  mud  stuffed  and  plastered  between  the  logs 
to  keep  out  the  rain.  Although  the  day  was  exceedingly  hot, 
there  were  two  logs  blazing  on  the  hearth,  over  which  was 
suspended  a  pot  of  potatoes.  The  air  inside  was  stifling,  and 
the  black  beams  of  the  roof  glistened  with  a  clammy  sweat 
from  smoke  and  unwholesome  vapors.  There  was  not  an  ar 
ticle  of  furniture,  except  a  big  deal  chest  and  a  small  stool,  in 
the  place  ;  a  mug  and  a  teacup  stood  on  a  rude  shelf  nailed  to 
the  wall.  The  owner  of  this  establishment,  a  stout  negro,  was 
busily  engaged  with  others  in  "  wooding  up  "  the  engine  from 
the  pile  of  cut  timber  by  the  roadside.  The  necessity  of  stop 
ping  caused  by  the  rapid  consumption  is  one  of  the  desagremens 
of  wood  fuel.  The  wood  is  cut  down  and  stacked  on  plat 
forms,  at  certain  intervals  along  the  line  ;  and  the  quantity 
used  is  checked  off  against  the  company  at  the  rate  of  so  much 
per  cord.  The  negro  was  one  of  many  slaves  let  out  to  the 
company.  White  men  would  not  do  the  work,  or  were  too 
expensive  ;  but  the  overseers  and  gangsmen  were  whites. 
"  How  can  they  bear  that  fire  in  the  hut  ?  "  "  Well.  If  you 
went  into  it  in  the  very  hottest  day  in  summer,  you  would  tind 
the  niggers  sitting  close  up  to  blazing  pine-logs ;  and  they  sleep 
at  night,  or  by  day  when  they've  fed  to  the  full,  in  the  same 
way."  My  friend,  nevertheless,  did  not  seem  to  understand 
that  any  country  could  get  on  without  negro  laborers. 

By  degrees  we  got  beyond  the  swamps,  and  came  upon 
patches  of  cleared  land  —  that  is,  the  forest  had  been  cut 
down,  and  the  only  traces  left  of  it  were  the  stumps,  some  four 
or  five  feet  high,  "snagging"  up  above  the  ground;  or  the 
trees  had  been  girdled  round,  so  as  to  kill  them,  and  the  black 
trunks  and  stiff  arms  gave  an  air  of  meagre  melancholy 'and 
desertion  to  the  place,  which  was  quite  opposite  to  its  real 
condition.  Here  it  was  that  the  normal  forest  and  swamp  had 


THE   STARS  AND  BARS.  91 

been  subjugated  by  man.  Presently  we  came  in  sigbt  of  a 
flag  fluttering  from  a  lofty  pine,  which  had  been  stripped  of 
its  branches,  throwing  broad  bars  of  red  and  white  to  the  air, 
with  a  blue  square  in  the  upper  quarter  containing  seven  stars. 
''That's  our  flag,"  —  said  the  engineer,  who  was  a  quiet  man, 
much  given  to  turning  steam-cocks,  examining  gauges,  wip 
ing  his  hands  in  fluffy  impromptu  handkerchiefs,  and  smoking 
tobacco  —  "That's  our  flag!  And  long  may  it  wave  —  o'er 
the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  ber-rave  ! "  As  we 
passed,  a  small  crowd  of  men,  women,  and  children,  of  all 
colors,  in  front  of  a  group  of  poor  broken-down  shanties  or 
log-huts,  cheered  —  to  speak  more  correctly  —  whooped  and 
yelled  vehemently.  The  cry  was  returned  by  the  passengers 
in  the  train.  "  We're  all  the  right  sort  hereabouts,"  said  the 
engineer.  "  Hurrah  for  Jeff  Davis  !  "  The  right  sort  were 
not  particularly  flourishing  in  outward  aspect,  at  all  events. 
The  women,  pale-faced,  were  tawdry  and  ragged  ;  the  men, 
yellow,  seedy  looking.  For  the  first  time  in  the  States,  I 
noticed  barefooted  people. 

Now  began  another  phase  of  scenery  —  an  interminable 
pine-forest,  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  shutting  out  the  light 
on  oach  side  by  a  wooden  wall.  From  this  forest  came  the 
str  jngest  odor  of  turpentine ;  presently  black  streaks  of 
snoke  floated  out  of  the  wood,  and  here  and  there  we  passed 
cleared  spaces,  where  in  rude-looding  furnaces  and  factories 
people  more  squalid  and  miserable  looking  than  before  were 
preparing  pitch,  tar,  turpentine,  rosin,  and  other  naval  stores, 
for  which  this  part  of  North  Carolina  is  famous.  The  stems 
of  the  trees  around  are  marked  by  white  scars,  where  the  tap 
pings  for  the  turpentine  take  place,  and  many  dead  trunks 
testified  how  the  process  ended. 

Again,  over  another  log  village,  a  Confederate  flag  floated 
in  the  air ;  and  the  people  ran  out,  negroes  and  all,  and  cheer 
ed  as  before.  The  new  flag  is  not  so  glaring  and  gaudy  as 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  ;  but,  at  a  distance,  when  the  folds  hang 
together,  there  is  a  considerable  resemblance  in  the  general 
effect  of  the  two.  If  ever  there  is  a  real  sentiment  du  drapeau 
got  up  in  the  South,  it  will  be  difficult  indeed  for  the  North 
to  restore  the  Union.  These  pieces  of  colored  bunting  seem 
to  twine  themselves  through  heart  and  brain. 

The  stations  along  the  roadside  now  gradually  grew  in  pro 
portion,  and  instead  of  a  small  sentry-box  beside  a  wood  pile, 
there  were  three  or  four  wooden  houses,  a  platform,  a  booking 


92  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

office,  an  "  exchange  "  or  drinking  room,  and  general  stores, 
like  the  shops  of  assorted  articles  in  an  Irish  town.  Around 
these  still  grew  the  eternal  forest,  or  patches  of  cleared  land 
dotted  with  black  stumps.  These  stations  have  very  grand 
names,  and  the  stores  are  dignified  by  high-sounding  titles  ; 
nor  are  "  billiard  saloons  "  and  "  restaurants  "  wanting.  We 
generally  found  a  group  of  people  waiting  at  each  ;  and  it 
really  was  most  astonishing  to  see  well-dressed,  respectable- 
looking  men  and  women  emerge  out  of  the  "  dismal  swamp," 
and  out  of  the  depths  of  the  forest,  with  silk  parasols  and 
crinoline,  bandboxes  and  portmanteaux,  in  the  most  civilized 
style.  There  were  always  some  negroes,  male  and  female,  in 
attendance  on  the  voyagers,  handling  the  baggage  or  the  ba 
bies,  and  looking  comfortable  enough,  but  not  happy.  The 
only  evidence  of  the  good  spirits  and  happiness  of  these  peo 
ple  which  I  saw  was  on  the  part  of  a  number  of  men  who 
were  going  off  from  a  plantation  for  the  fishing  on  the  coast. 
They  and  their  wives  and  sisters,  arrayed  in  their  best  —  which 
means  their  brightest,  colors  —  were  grinning  from  ear  to 
ear  as  they  bade  good-by.  The  negro  likes  the  mild  excite 
ment  of  sea  fishing,  and  in  pursuit  of  it  he  feels  for  the  mo 
ment  free. 

At  Goldsborough,  which  is  the  first  place  of  importance  on 
the  line,  the  wave  of  the  Secession  tide  struck  us  in  full  career. 
The  station,  the  hotels,  the  street  through  which  the  rail  ran 
was  filled  with  an  excited  mob,  all  carrying  arms,  with  signs 
here  and  there  of  a  desire  to  get  up  some  kind  of  uniform  — • 
flushed  faces,  wrild  eyes,  screaming  mouths,  hurrahing  for 
"  Jeff  Davis "  and  "  the  Southern  Confederacy,"  so  that  the 
yells  overpowered  the  discordant  bands  which  were  busy  with 
"  Dixie's  Land."  Here  was  the  true  revolutionary  furor  in 
full  sway.  The  men  hectored,  swore,  cheered,  and  slapped 
each  other  on  the  backs ;  the  women,  in  their  best,  waved 
handkerchiefs  and  flung  down  garlands  from  the  windows. 
All  was  noise,  dust,  and  patriotism. 

It  was  a  strange  sight  and  a  wonderful  event  at  which  we 
were  assisting.  These  men  were  a  levy  of  the  people  of 
North  Carolina  called  out  by  the  Governor  of  the  State  for 
the  purpose  of  seizing  upon  forts  Caswell  and  Macon,  belong 
ing  to  the  Federal  Government,  and  left  unprotected  and  un 
defended.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  "  citizens"  was  unbounded, 
nor  was  it  quite  free  from  a  taint  of  alcohol.  Many  of  the 
volunteers  had  flint  firelocks,  only  a  few  had  rifles.  All 


WAR  FEVER.  93 

kinds  of  head-dress  were  visible,  and  caps,  belts,  ana  pouches 
of  infinite  variety.  A  man  in  a  large  wide-awake,  with  a 
cock's  feather  in  it,  a  blue  frock-coat,  with  a  red  sash  and  a 
pair  of  cotton  trousers  thrust  into  his  boots,  came  out  of 
Griswold's  Hotel  with  a  sword  under  his  arm,  and  an  article 
which  might  have  been  a  napkin  of  long  service,  in  one  hand. 
He  waved  the  article  enthusiastically,  swaying  to  and  fro  on 
his  legs,  and  ejaculating  "  H'ra  for  Jeff  Dav's  —  H'ra  for 
S'thern  E'r'rights  ! "  and  tottered  over  to  the  carriage  through 
the  crowd  amid  the  violent  vibration  of  all  the  ladies'  hand 
kerchiefs  in  the  balcony.  Just  as  he  got  into  the  train,  a  man 
in  uniform  dashed  after  him,  and  caught  him  by  the  elbow, 
exclaiming,  "  Them's  not  the  cars,  General !  The  cars  this 
way,  General !  "  The  military  dignitary,  however,  felt  that  if 
he  permitted  such  liberties  in  the  hour  of  victory  he  was  de 
graded  forever,  so,  screwing  up  his  lips  and  looking  grave 
and  grand,  he  proceeded  as  follows  :  "  Sergeant,  you  go  be 

.     I  say  these  are  my  cars  !     They're  all  my  cars  !     I'll 

sen'l  them  where  I  please  —  to   if  I  like,   sir.     They 

shf ,11  go  where  I  please  —  to  New  York,  sir,  or  New  Orleans, 

sii  !     And sir,  I'll  arrest  you."     This  famous  idea  dis- 

t.  acted  the  General's  attention  from  his  project  of  entering  the 
train,  and  muttering,  "  I'll  arrest  you,"  he  tacked  backwards 
and  forwards  to  the  hotel  again. 

As  the  train  started  on  its  journey,  there  was  renewed 
yelling,  which  split  the  ear  —  a  savage  cry  many  notes  higher 
than  the  most  ringing  cheer.  At  the  wayside  inn,  where  we 
dined  —  piece  de  resistance  being  pig  —  the  attendants,  comely, 
well-dressed,  clean  negresses  were  slaves  —  "worth  a  thousand 
dollars  each."  I  am  not  favorably  impressed  by  either  the 
food  or  the  mode  of  living,  or  the  manners  of  the  company. 
One  man  made  very  coarse  jokes  about  "  Abe  Lincoln  "  and 
"  negro  wenches,"  which  nothing  but  extreme  party  passion 
and  bad  taste  could  tolerate.  Several  of  the  passengers  had 
been  clerks  in  Government  offices  at  Washington,  and  had 
been  dismissed  because  they  would  not  take  the  oath  of  alle 
giance.  They  were  hurrying  off  full  of  zeal  and  patriotism 

to  tender  their  services  to  the  Montgomery  Government. 

****** 

I  had  been  the  object  of  many  attentions  and  civilities  from 
gentlemen  in  the  train  during  my  journey.  One  of  them,  who 
told  me  he  was  a  municipal  dignitary  of  Weldon,  having  ex 
hausted  all  the  inducements  that  he  could  think  of  to  induce 


94  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

me  to  spend  some  time  there,  at  last,  in  desperation,  said  he 
would  be  happy  to  show  me  "the  antiquities  of  the  place." 
Weldon  is  a  recent  uprising  in  wood  and  log-houses  from  the 
swamps,  and  it  would  puzzle  the  archaeologists  of  the  world 
to  find  anything  antique  about  it. 

At  nightfall  the  train  stopped  at  Wilmington,  and  I  was 
shot  out  on  a  platform  under  a  shed,  to  do  the  best  I  could. 
In  a  long,  lofty,  and  comfortless  room,  like  a  barn,  which 
abutted  on  the  platform,  there  was  a  table  covered  with  a 
dirty  cloth,  on  which  lay  little  dishes  of  pickles,  fish,  meat,  and 
potatoes,  at  which  were  seated  some  of  our  fellow-passengers. 
The  equality  of  all  men  is  painfully  illustrated  when  your 
neighbor  at  table  eats  with  his  knife,  dips  the  end  of  it  into 
the  salt,  and  disregards  the  object  and  end  of  napkins.  But 
it  is  carried  to  a  more  disagreeable  extent  when  it  is  held  to 
mean  that  any  man  who  comes  to  an  inn  has  a  right  to  share 
your  bed.  I  asked  for  a  room,  but  I  wras  told  that  there  were 
so  many  people  moving  about  just  now  that  it  was  not  possi 
ble  to  give  me  one  to  myself;  but  at  last  I  made  a  bargain 
for  exclusive  possession.  When  the  next  train  came  in,  how 
ever,  the  woman  very  coolly  inquired  whether  I  had  any 
objection  to  allow  a  passenger  to  divide  my  bed,  and  seemed 
very  much  displeased  at  my  refusal ;  and  I  perceived  three 
big-bearded  men  snoring  asleep  in  one  bed  in  the  next  room 
to  me  as  I  passed  through  the  passage  to  the  dining-room. 

The  "artist"  Moses,  who  had  gone  with  my  letter  to  the 
post,  returned,  after  a  long  absence,  pale  and  agitated.  He 
said  he  had  been  pounced  upon  by  the  Vigilance  Committee, 
who  were  rather  drunk,  and  very  inquisitive.  They  were 
haunting  the  precincts  of  the  post-office  and  the  railway  sta 
tion,  to  detect  Lincolnites  and  Abolitionists,  and  were  obliged 
.to  keep  themselves  wide  awake  by  frequent  visits  to  the 
adjacent  bars,  and  he  had  with  difficulty  dissuaded  them  from 
paying  me  a  visit.  They  cross-examined  him  respecting  my 
opinion  of  Secession,  and  desired  to  have  an  audience  with  me 
in  order  to  give  rne  any  information  which  might  be  required. 
I  cannot  say  what  reply  was  given  to  their  questioning ;  but 
I  certainly  refused  to  have  any  interview  with  the  Vigilance 
Committee  of  Wilmington,  and  was  glad  they  did  not  disturb 
me.  Rest,  however,  there  was  little  or  none.  I  might  have 
as  well  slept  on  the  platform  of  the  railway  station  outside. 
Trains  coming  in  and  going  out  shook  the  room  and  the  bed 
on  which  I  lay,  and  engines  snorted,  puffed,  roared,  whistled, 
and  rang  bells  close  to  my  key-hole. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

Sketches  round  Wilmington  —  Public  opinion  —  Approach  to  Charles 
ton  and  Fort  Sumter —  Introduction  to  General  Beauregard — 
Ex-Governor  Manning  —  Conversation  on  the  chances  of  the  war 
—  "  King  Cotton  "  and  England — Visit  to  Fort  Sumter  —  Mar 
ket-place  at  Charleston. 

EARLY  next  morning,  soon  after  dawn,  I  crossed  the  Cape 
Fear  River,  on  which  Wilmington  is  situated,  by  a  steam 
ferry-boat.  On  the  quay  lay  quantities  of  shot  and  shell. 
"  How  came  these  here  ?  "  I  inquired.  "  They're  anti-aboli 
tion  pills,"  said  my  neighbor ;  "•  they've  been  waiting  here  for 
two  months  back,  but  now  that  Sumter's  taken,  I  guess  they 
won't  be  wanted."  To  my  mind,  the  conclusion  was  by  no 
means  legitimate.  From  the  small  glance  I  had  of  Wil 
mington,  with  its  fleet  of  schooners  and  brigs  crowding  the 
broad  and  rapid  river,  I  should  think  it  was  a  thriving  place. 
Confederate  flags  waved  over  the  public  buildings,  and  I  was 
informed  that  the  forts  had  been  seized  without  opposition  or 
difficulty.  I  can  see  no  sign  here  of  the  "affection  to  the 
Union,"  which,  according  to  Mr.  Seward,  underlies  all  "  seces 
sion  proclivities." 

As  we  traversed  the  flat  and  uninteresting  country,  through 
which  the  rail  passes,  Confederate  flags  and  sentiments  greeted 
us  everywhere  ;  men  and  women  repeated  the  national  cry  ; 
at  every  station  militia-men  arid  volunteers  were  waiting  for 
the  train,  and  the  everlasting  word  "Sumter"  ran  through 
all  the  conversation  in  the  cars. 

The  Carolinians  are  capable  of  turning  out  a  fair  force  of 
cavalry.  At  each  stopping-place  I  observed  saddle-horses 
tethered  under  the  trees,  and  light  driving  vehicles,  drawn 
by  wiry  muscular  animals,  not  remarkable  for  size,  but  strong- 
looking  and  active.  Some  farmers  in  blue  jackets,  and  yellow 
braid  and  facings,  handed  round  their  swords  to  be  admired 
by  the  company.  A  few  blades  had  flashed  in  obscure  Mexi 
can  skirmishes  —  one,  however,  had  been  borne  against  "  the 


96  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Britishers."  I  inquired  of  a  fine,  tall,  fair-haired  young  fel 
low  whom  they  expected  to  fight.  "  That's  more  than  I  can 
tell,"  quoth  he.  "  The  Yankees  ain't  such  cussed  fools  as  to 
think  they  can  come  here  and  whip  us,  let  alone  the  British." 
"  Why,  what  have  the  British  got  to  do  with  it  ?  "  "  They 
are  bound  to  take  our  part :  if  they  don't,  we'll  just  give  them 
a  hint  about  cotton,  and  that  will  set  matters  right."  This 
was  said  very  much  with  the  air  of  a  man  who  knows  what 
he  is  talking  about,  and  who  was  quite  satisfied  "  he  had  you 
there."  I  found  it  was  still  displeasing  to  most  people,  partic 
ularly  one  or  two  of  the  fair  sex,  that  more  Yankees  were 
not  killed  at  Sumter.  All  the  people  who  addressed  me 
prefixed  my  name,  which  they  soon  found  out,  by  "  Major  " 
or  "  Colonel  "  —  "  Captain  "  is  very  low,  almost  indicative  of 
contempt.  The  conductor  who  took  our  tickets  was  called 
"  Captain." 

At  the  Pedee  River  the  rail  is  carried  over  marsh  and 
stream  on  trestle  work  for  two  miles.  "  This  is  the  kind  of 
country  we'll  catch  the  Yankees  in,  if  they  come  to  invade  us. 
They'll  have  some  pretty  tall  swimming,  and  get  knocked  on 
the  head,  if  ever  they  gets  to  land.  I  wish  there  was  ten 
thousand  of  the  cusses  in  it  this  minute."  At  Nichol's  station 
on  the  frontiers  of  South  Carolina,  our  baggage  was  regularly 
examined  at  the  Custom  House,  but  I  did  not  see  any  one 
pay  duties.  As  the  train  approached  the  level  and  marshy 
land  near  Charleston,  the  square  block  of  Fort  Sumter  was 
seen  rising  above  the  water  with  the  "  stars  and  bars  "  flying 
over  it,  and  the  spectacle  created  great  enthusiasm  among  the 
passengers.  The  smoke  was  still  rising  from  an  angle  of  the 
walls.  Outside  the  village-like  suburbs  of  the  city  a  regiment 
was  marching  for  old  Virginny  amid  the  cheers  of  the  people 
—  cavalry  were  picketed  in  the  fields  and  gardens  —  tents 
and  men  were  visible  in  the  by-ways. 

It  was  nearly  dark  when  we  reached  the  station.  I  was 
recommended  to  go  to  the  Mills  House,  and  on  arriving  there 
found  Mr.  Ward,  whom  I  had  already  met  in  New  York  and 
Washington,  and  who  gave  me  an  account  of  the  bombard 
ment  and  surrender  of  the  fort.  The  hotel  was  full  of  nota 
bilities.  I  was  introduced  to  ex-Governor  Manning,  Senator 
Chestnut,  Hon.  Porcher  Miles,  on  the  staff  of  General  Beau- 
regard,  and  to  Colonel  Lucas,  aide-de-camp  to  Governor 
Pickens.  I  was  taken  after  dinner  and  introduced  to  Gen 
eral  Beauregard,  who  was  engaged,  late  as  it  was,  in  his  room 


JOHN  MANNING.  97 

at  the  Head-Quarters  writing  despatches.  The  General  is  a 
small,  compact  man,  about  thirty-six  years  of  age,  with  a 
quick,  and  intelligent  eye  and  action,  and  a  good  deal  of  the 
Frenchman  in  his  manner  and  look.  He  received  me  in  the 
most  cordial  manner,  and  introduced  me  to  his  engineer  officer, 
Major  Whiting,  whom  he  assigned  to  lead  me  over  the  works 
next  day. 

After  some  general  conversation  I  took  my  leave  ;  but  be 
fore  I  went,  the  General  said,  "  You  shall  go  everywhere  and 
see  everything ;  we  rely  on  your  discretion,  and  knowledge 
of  what  is  fair  in  dealing  with  what  you  see.  Of  course  you 
don't  expect  to  find  regular  soldiers  in  our  camps  or  very  sci 
entific  works."  I  answered  the  General,  that  he  might  rely 
on  my  making  no  improper  use  of  what  I  saw  in  this  country, 
but,  *•  unless  you  tell  me  to  the  contrary,  I  shall  write  an  ac 
count  of  all  1  see  to  the  other  side  of  the  water,  and  if,  when 
it  comes  back,  there  are  things  you  would  rather  not  have 
known,  you  must  not  blame  me."  He  smiled,  and  said,  "  I 
dare  say  we'll  have  great  changes  by  that  time." 

That  night  I  sat  in  the  Charleston  Club  with  John  Manning. 
Who  that  has  ever  met  him  can  be  indifferent  to  the  charms 
of  manner  and  of  personal  appearance,  which  render  the  ex- 
Governor  of  the  State  so  attractive  ?  There  were  others 
present,  senators  or  congressmen,  like  Mr.  Chestnut  and  Mr. 
Porcher  Miles.  We  talked  long,  and  at  last  angrily,  as 
might  be  between  friends,  of  political  affairs. 

I  own  it  was  a  little  irritating  to  me  to  hear  men  indulge  in 
extravagant  broad  menace  and  rodomontade,  such  as  came 
from  their  lips.  "  They  would  welcome  the  world  in  arms 
with  hospitable  hands  to  bloody  graves."  "  They  never  could 
be  conquered."  "  Creation  could  not  do  it,"  and  so  on.  I  was 
obliged  to  handle  the  question  quietly  at  first  —  to  ask  them 
"  if  they  admitted  the  French  were  a  brave  and  warlike 
people  !  "  "  Yes,  certainly."  "  Do  you  think  you  could  bet 
ter  defend  yourselves  against  invasion  than  the  people  of 
France  ?  "  "  Well,  no ;  but  we'd  make  it  pretty  hard  busi 
ness  for  the  Yankees."  "  Suppose  the  Yankees,  as  you  call 
them,  come  with  such  preponderance  of  men  and  materiel, 
that  they  are  three  to  your  one,  will  you  not  be  forced  to  sub 
mit  ?"  '"  Never."  "  Then  either  you  are  braver,  better  dis 
ciplined,  more  warlike  than  the  people  and  soldiers  of  France, 
or  you  alone,  of  all  the  nations  in  the  world,  possess  the  means 
of  resisting  physical  laws  which  prevail  in  war,  as  in  other 
5 


98  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

affairs  of  life."  "  No.  The  Yankees  are  cowardly  rascals. 
We  have  proved  it  by  kicking  and  cuffing  them  till  we  are 
tired  of  it ;  besides,  we  know  John  Bull  very  well.  Pie  will 
make  a  great  fuss  about  non-interference  at  first,  but  when  he 
begins  to  want  cotton  he'll  come  off  his  perch."  I  found  this 
was  the  fixed  idea  everywhere.  The  doctrine  of  "  cotton  is 
king,"  —  to  us  who  have  not  much  considered  the  question  a 
grievous  delusion  or  an  unmeaning  babble  —  to  them  is  a 
lively  all-powerful  faith  without  distracting  heresies  or  schisms. 
They  have  in  it  enunciated  their  full  belief,  and  indeed  there 
is  some  truth  in  it,  in  so  far  as  we  year  after  year  by  the  stim 
ulants  of  coal,  capital,  and  machinery  have  been  working  up 
a  manufacture  on  which  four  or  five  millions  of  our  population 
depend  for  bread  and  life,  which  cannot  be  carried  on  without 
the  assistance  of  a  nation,  that  may  at  any  time  refuse  us  an 
adequate  supply,  or  be  cut  off  from  giving  it  by  war. 

Political  economy,  we  are  well  aware,  is  a  fine  science,  but 
its  followers  are  capable  of  tremendous  absurdities  in  practice. 
The  dependence  of  such  a  large  proportion  of  the  English  peo 
ple  on  this  sole  article  of  American  cotton  is  fraught  with  the 
utmost  danger  to  our  honor  and  to  our  prosperity.  Here  were 
these  Southern  gentlemen  exulting  in  their  power  to  control  the 
policy  of  Great  Britain,  and  it  was  small  consolation  to  me  to 
assure  them  they  were  mistaken  ;  in  case  we  did  not  act  as 
they  anticipated,  it  could  not  be  denied  Great  Britain  would 
plunge  an  immense  proportion  of  her  people  —  a  nation  of 
manufacturers  —  into  pauperism,  which  must  leave  them  de 
pendent  on  the  national  funds,  or  more  properly  on  the  prop 
erty  and  accumulated  capital  of  the  district. 

About  8-30,  P.  M.,  a  deep  bell  began  to  toll.  "  What  is 
that?"  "It's  for  all  the  colored  people  to  clear  out  of  the 
streets  and  go  home.  The  guards  will  arrest  any  who  are 
found  out  without  passes  in  half  an  hour."  There  was  much 
noise  in  the  streets,  drums  beating,  men  cheering,  and  march 
ing,  and  the  hotel  is  crammed  full  with  soldiers. 

April  17th.  —  The  streets  of  Charleston  present  some  such 
aspect  as  those  of  Paris  in  the  last  revolution.  Crowds  of 
armed  men  singing  and  promenading  the  streets.  The  battle- 
blood  running  through  their  veins  —  that  hot  oxygen  which  is 
called  "  the  flush  of  victory  "  on  the  cheek  ;  restaurants  full, 
revelling  in  bar-rooms,  club-rooms  crowded,  orgies  and  ca- 
rousings  in  tavern  or  private  house,  in  tap-room,  from  cabaret 
—  down  narrow  alleys,  in  the  broad  highway.  Sumter  has 


VISIT   TO   FORT   SUMTER.  99 

set  them  distraught ;  never  was  such  a  victory ;  never  such 
brave  lads ;  never  such  a  fight.  There  are  pamphlets  al 
ready  full  of  the  incident.  It  is  a  bloodless  Waterloo  or  Sol- 
ferino. 

After  breakfast  I  went  down  to  the  quay,  with  a  party  of 
the  General's  staff,  to  visit  Fort  Sumter.  The  senators  and 
governors  turned  soldiers  wore  blue  military  caps,  with  "  pal 
metto  "  trees  embroidered  thereon  ;  blue  frock-coats,  with  up 
right  collars,  and  shoulder-straps  edged  with  lace,  and  marked 
with  two  silver  bars,  to  designate  their  rank  of  captain  ;  gilt 
buttons,  with  the  palmetto  in  relief;  blue  trousers,  with  a 
gold-lace  cord,  and  brass  spurs  —  no  straps.  The  day  was 
sweltering,  but  a  strong  breeze  blew  in  the  harbor,  and  puffed 
the  dust  of  Charleston,  coating  our  clothes,  and  filling  our  eyes 
with  powder.  The  streets  were  crowded  with  lanky  lads, 
clanking  spurs,  and  sabres,  with  awkward  squads  marching  to 
and  fro,  with  drummers  beating  calls,  and  ruffles,  and  points 
of  war ;  around  them  groups  of  grinning  negroes  delighted 
with  the  glare  and  glitter,  a  holiday,  and  a  new  idea  for  them 

—  Secession  flags  waving  out  of  all  the  windows  —  little  Irish 
boys  shouting  out,  "  Battle  of  Fort  Sumter  !     New  edishun  ! " 

—  As  we  walked  down  towards  the  quay,  where  the  steamer 
was   lying,  numerous   traces  of  the  unsettled  state  of  men's 
minds  broke  out  in  the  hurried  conversations  of  the  various 
friends  who  stopped  to   speak  for  a  few  moments.     "  Well, 
governor,  the  old  Union  is  gone  at  last !  "     "  Have  you  heard 
what  Abe  is  going  to  do?"     "I  don't  think  Beauregard  will 
have  much  more  fighting  for  it.     What  do  you  think  ?  "     And 
so  on.     Our  little  Creole  friend,  by  the  by,  is  popular  beyond 
description.     There  are  all  kinds  of  doggerel  rhymes  in  his 
honor  —  one  with  a  refrain  — 

"  With  cannon  and  musket,  with  shell  and  petard, 
We  salute  the  North  with  our  Beau-regard  "  — 

is  much  in  favor. 

We  passed  through  the  market,  where  the  stalls  are  kept 
by  fat  negresses  and  old  "  unkeys."  There  is  a  sort  of  vul 
ture  or  buzzard  here,  much  encouraged  as  scavengers,  and  — 
but  all  the  world  has  heard  of  the  Charleston  vultures  —  so 
we  will  leave  them  to  their  garbage.  Near  the  quay,  where 
the  steamer  was  lying,  there  is  a  very  tine  building  in  white 
marble,  which  attracted  our  notice.  It  was  unfinished,  and 
immense  blocks  of  the  glistening  stone  destined  for  its  com- 


100  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

pletion,  lay  on  the  ground.  "  What  is  that  ? "  I  inquired. 
"  Why,  it's  a  custom-house  Uncle  Sam  was  building  for  our 
benefit,  but  I  don't  think  he'll  ever  raise  a  cent  for  his  treas 
ury  out  of  it."  "•  Will  you  complete  it  ?  "  "I  should  think 
not.  We'll  lay  on  few  duties  ;  and  what  we  want  is  free- 
trade,  and  no  duties  at  all,  except  for  public  purposes.  The 
Yankees  have  plundered  us  with  their  custom-houses  and  du 
ties  long  enough."  An  old  gentleman  here  stopped  us.  "  You 
will  do  me  the  greatest  favor,"  he  said  to  one  of  our  party  who 
knew  him,  "  if  you  will  get  me  something  to  do  for  our  glori 
ous  cause.  Old  as  I  am,  I  can  carry  a  musket  —  not  far,  to 
be  sure,  but  I  can  kill  a  Yankee  if  he  comes  near."  When 
he  had  gone,  my  friend  told  me  the  speaker  was  a  man  of  for 
tune,  two  of  whose  sons  were  in  camp  at  Morris'  Island,  but 
that  he  was  suspected  of  Union  sentiments,  as  he  had  a  North 
ern  wife,  and  hence  his  extreme  vehemence  and  devotion. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

Southern  volunteers — Unpopularity  of  the  press — Charleston  — 
Fort  Sumter  —  Morris'  Island — Anti-union  enthusiasm  —  Anec 
dote  of  Colonel  Wigfall — Interior  view  of  the  fort  —  North  versus 
South. 

TIIETIE  was  a  large  crowd  around  the  pier  staring  at  the 
men  in  uniform  on  the  boat,  which  was  filled  with  bales  of 
goods,  commissariat  stores,  trusses  of  hay,  and  hampers,  sup 
plies  for  the  volunteer  army  on  Morris'  Island.  I  was  amused 
by  the  names  of  the  various  corps,  "  Tigers,"  "  Lions,"  "  Scor 
pions,"  "  Palmetto  Eagles,"  "  Guards,"  of  Pickens,  Sumter, 
Marion,  and  of  various  other  denominations,  painted  on  the 
boxes.  The  original  formation  of  these  volunteers  is  in  com 
panies,  and  they  know  nothing  of  battalions  or  regiments. 
The  tendency  in  volunteer  outbursts  is  sometimes  to  gratify 
the  greatest  vanity  of  the  greatest  number.  These  companies 
do  not  muster  more  than  fifty  or  sixty  strong.  Some  were 
"  dandies,"  and  "  swells,"  and  affected  to  look  down  on  their 
neighbors  and  comrades.  Major  Whiting  told  me  there  was 
difficulty  in  getting  them  to  obey  orders  at  first,  as  each  man 
had  an  idea  that  lie  was  as  good  an  engineer  as  anybody  else, 
"  and  a  good  deal  better,  if  it  came  to  that."  It  was  easy  to 
perceive  it  was  the  old  story  of  volunteer  and  regular  in  this 
little  army. 

As  we  got  on  deck,  the  Major  saw  a  number  of  rough,  long 
haired-looking  fellows  in  coarse  gray  tunics,  with  pewter  but 
tons  and  worsted  braid  lying  on  the  hay-bales  smoking  their 
cigars.  "  Gentlemen,"  quoth  he,  very  courteously,  "  you'll 
oblige  me  by  not  smoking  over  the  hay.  There's  powder  be 
low."  "  I  don't  believe  we're  going  to  burn  the  hay  this  time, 
kernel,"  was  the  reply,  "and  anyway,  we'll  put  it  out  afore  it 
reaches  the  'bustibles,"  and  they  went  on  smoking.  The  Ma 
jor  grumbled,  and  worse,  and  drew  off. 

Among  the  passengers  were  some  brethren  of  mine  belong- 


102  MY  DIARY  NORTH   AND  SOUTH. 

ing  to  the  New  York  and  local  papers.  I  saw  a  short  time 
afterwards  a  description  of  the  trip  by  one  of  these  gentlemen, 
in  which  he  described  it  as  an  affair  got  up  specially  for  him 
self,  probably  in  order  to  avenge  himself  on  his  military  per 
secutors,  for  he  had  complained  to  me  the  evening  before,  that 

the  chief  of  General  Beauregard's  staff  told  him  to  go  to , 

when  he  applied  at  head-quarters  for  some  information.  I 
found  from  the  tone  and  looks  of  my  friends,  that  these  literary 
gentlemen  were  received  with  great  disfavor,  and  Major  Whit 
ing,  who  is  a  bibliomaniac,  and  has  a  very  great  liking  for  the 
best  English  writers,  could  not  conceal  his  repugnance  and 
antipathy  to  my  unfortunate  confreres.  "  If  I  had  my  way, 
I  would  fling  them  into  the  water  ;  but  the  General  has  given 
them  orders  to  come  on  board.  It  is  these  fellows  who  have 
brought  all  this  trouble  on  our  country." 

The  traces  of  dislike  of  the  freedom  of  the  press,  which  I, 
to  my  astonishment,  discovered  in  the  North,  are  broader  and 
deeper  in  the  South,  and  they  are  not  accompanied  by  the 
signs  of  dread  of  its  power  which  exist  in  New  York,  where 
men  speak  of  the  chiefs  of  the  most  notorious  journals  very 
much  as  people  in  Italian  cities  of  past  time  might  have  talked 
of  the  most  infamous  bravo  or  the  chief  of  some  band  of  as 
sassins.  Whiting  comforted  himself  by  the  reflection  that  they 
would  soon  have  their  fingers  in  a  vice,  and  then  pulling  out 
a  ragged  little  sheet,  turned  suddenly  on  the  representative 
thereof,  and  proceeded  to  give  the  most  unqualified  contradic 
tion  to  most  of  the  statements  contained  in  "  the  full  and  accu 
rate  particulars  of  the  Bombardment  and  Fall  of  Fort  Sum- 
ter,"  in  the  said  journal,  which  the  person  in  question  listened 
to  with  becoming  meekness  and  contrition.  "  If  I  knew  who 
wrote  it,"  said  the  Major,  "  I'd  make  him  eat  it." 

I  was  presented  to  many  judges,  colonels,  and  others  of  the 
mass  of  society  on  board,  and,  "  after  compliments,"  as  the 
Orientals  say,  I  was  generally  asked,  in  the  first  place,  what 
I  thought  of  the  capture  of  Sumter,  and  in  the  second,  what 
England  would  do  when  the  news  reached  the  other  side. 
Already  the  Carolinians  regard  the  Northern  States  as  an 
alien  and  detested  enemy,  and  entertain,  or  profess,  an  im 
mense  affection  for  Great  Britain. 

When  we  had  shipped  all  our  passengers,  nine  tenths  of 
them  in  uniform,  and  a  larger  proportion  engaged  in  chewing, 
the  whistle  blew,  and  the  steamer  sidled  off  from  the  quay 
into  the  yellowish  muddy  water  of  the  Ashley  River,  which 


FORT   SUMTER.  103 

is  a  creek  from  the  sea,  with  a  streamlet  running  into  the 
head  waters  some  distance  up. 

The  shore  opposite  Charleston  is  more  than  a  mile  distant 
and  is  low  and  sandy,  covered  here  and  there  with  patches  of 
brilliant  vegetation,  and  long  lines  of  trees.  It  is  cut  up  with 
creeks,  which  divide  it  into  islands,  so  that  passages  out  to  sea 
exist  between  some  of  them  for  light  craft,  though  the  navi 
gation  is  perplexed  and  difficult.  The  city  lies  on  a  spur  or 
promontory  between  the  Ashley  and  the  Cooper  rivers,  and 
the  land  behind  it  is  divided  in  the  same  manner  by  similar 
creeks,  and  is  sandy  and  light,  bearing,  nevertheless,  very  fine 
crops,  and  trees  of  magnificent  vegetation.  The  steeples,  the 
domes  of  public  buildings,  the  rows  of  massive  warehouses 
and  cotton  stores  on  the  wharves,  and  the  bright  colors  of  the 
houses,  render  the  appearance  of  Charleston,  as  seen  from  the 
river  front,  rather  imposing.  From  the  mastheads  of  the  few 
large  vessels  in  harbor  floated  the  Confederate  flag.  Look 
ing  to  our  right,  the  same  standard  was  visible,  waving  on  the 
low,  white  parapets  of  the  earthworks  which  had  been  engaged 
in  reducing  Sumter. 

That  much-talked-of  fortress  lay  some  two  miles  ahead  of 
us  now,  rising  up  out  of  the  water  near  the  middle  of  the 
passage  out  to  sea  between  James'  Island  and  Sullivan's  Is 
land.  It  struck  me  at  first  as  being  like  one  of  the  smaller 
forts  off  Cronstadt,  but  a  closer  inspection  very  much  dimin 
ished  its  importance  ;  the  material  is  brick,  not  stone,  and  the 
size  of  the  place  is  exaggerated  by  the  low  background,  and 
by  contrast  with  the  sea-line.  The  land  contracts  on  both 
sides  opposite  the  fort,  a  projection  of  Morris'  Island,  called 
"  Cumrning's  Point,"  running  out  on  the  left.  There  is  a  sim 
ilar  promontory  from  Sullivan's  Island,  on  which  is  erected 
Fort  Moultrie,  on  the  right  from  the  sea  entrance.  Castle 
Pinckney,  which  stands  on  a  small  island  at  the  exit  of  the 
Cooper  River,  is  a  place  of  no  importance,  and  it  was  too  far 
from  Sumter  to  take  any  share  in  the  bombardment  :  the  same 
remarks  apply  to  Fort  Johnson  on  James'  Island,  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Ashley  River  below  Charleston.  The  works 
which  did  the  mischief  were  the  batteries  of  sand  on  Morris' 
Island,  at  Cumming's  Point,  and  Fort  Moultrie.  The  floating 
battery,  covered  with  railroad-iron,  lay  a  long  way  off,  and 
could  riot  have  contributed  much  to  the  result. 

As  we  approached  Morris'  Island,  which  is  an  accumulation 
of  sand  covered  with  mounds  of  the  same  material,  on  which 


104  MY  DIAEY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

there  is  a  scanty  vegetation  alternating  with  salt-water  marshes, 
we  could  perceive  a  few  tents  in  the  distance  among  the  sand 
hills.  The  sand-bag  batteries,  and  an  ugly  black  parpapet, 
with  guns  peering  through  port-holes  as  if  from  a  ship's  side, 
lay  before  us.  Around  them  men  were  swarming  like  ants, 
and  a  crowd  in  uniform  were  gathered  on  the  beach  to  receive 
us  as  we  landed  from  the  boat  of  the  steamer,  all  eager  for 
news  and  provisions  and  newspapers,  of  which  an  immense 
flight  immediately  fell  upon  them.  A  guard  with  bayonets 
crossed  in  a  very  odd  sort  of  manner,  prevented  any  unau 
thorized  persons  from  landing.  They  wore  the  universal  coarse 
gray  jacket  and  trousers,  with  worsted  braid  and  yellow  fac 
ings,  uncouth  caps,  lead  buttons  stamped  with  the  palmetto- 
tree.  Their  unbronzed  firelocks  were  covered  with  rust.  The 
soldiers  lounging  about  were  mostly  tall,  well-grown  men,  young 
and  old,  some  with  the  air  of  gentlemen  ;  others  coarse,  long 
haired  fellows,  without  any  semblance  of  military  bearing,  but 
full  of  fight,  and  burning  with  enthusiasm,  not  unaided,  in 
some  instances,  by  coarser  stimulus. 

The  day  was  exceedingly  warm  and  unpleasant,  the  hot 
wind  blew  the  fine  white  sand  into  our  faces,  and  wafted  it  in 
minute  clouds  inside  eyelids,  nostrils,  and  clothing ;  but  it  was 
necessary  to  visit  the  batteries,  so  on  we  trudged  into  one  and 
out  of  another,  walked  up  parapets,  examined  profiles,  looked 
along  guns,  and  did  everything  that  could  be  required  of  us. 
The  result  of  the  examination  was  to  establish  in  my  mind  the 
conviction,  that  if  the  commander  of  Sumter  had  been  allowed 
to  open  his  guns  on  the  island,  the  first  time  he  saw  an  indica 
tion  of  throwing  up  a  battery  against  him,  he  could  have  saved 
his  fort.  Moultrie,  in  its  original  state,  on  the  opposite  side, 
could  have  been  readily  demolished  by  Sumter.  The  design 
of  the  works  was  better  than  their  execution  —  the  sand-bags 
were  rotten,  the  sand  not  properly  revetted  or  banked  up,  and 
the  traverses  imperfectly  constructed.  The  barbette  guns  of 
the  fort  looked  into  many  of  the  embrasures,  and  commanded 
them. 

The  whole  of  the  island  was  full  of  life  and  excitement. 
Officers  were  galloping  about  as  if  on  a  field-day  or  in  action. 
Commissariat  carts  were  toiling  to  and  fro  between  the  beach 
and  the  camps,  and  sounds  of  laughter  and  revelling  came 
from  the  tents.  These  were  pitched  without  order,  and  were 
of  all  shapes,  hues,  and  sizes,  many  being  disfigured  by  rude 
charcoal  drawings  outside,  and  inscriptions  such  as  "  The 


CAMP   SCENES.  105 

Live  Tigers,"  "  Rattlesnake's-hole,"  "  Yankee  Smashers,"  &c. 
The  vicinity  of  the  camps  was  in  an  intolerable  state,  and  on 
calling  the  attention  of  the  medical  officer  who  was  with  me, 
to  the  danger  arising  from  such  a  condition  of  things,  he  said 
with  a  sigh.  "  I  know  it  all.  But  we  can  do  nothing.  Remem 
ber  they're  all  volunteers,  and  do  just  as  they  please." 

In  every  tent  was  hospitality,  and  a  hearty  welcome  to  all 
comers.  Cases  of  champagne  and  claret,  French  pates,  and 
the  like,  were  piled  outside  the  canvas  walls,  when  there  was 
no  room  for  them  inside.  In  the  middle  of  these  excited 
gatherings  I  felt  like  a  man  in  the  full  possession  of  his  senses 
coming  in  late  to  a  wine  party.  "  Won't  you  drink  with  me, 
sir,  to  the — (something  awful) — of  Lincoln  and  all  Yan 
kees  ? "  "  No !  if  you'll  be  good  enough  to  excuse  me." 
"  Well,  I  think  you're  the  only  Englishman  who  won't." 
Our  Carolinians  are  very  fine  fellows,  but  a  little  given  to  the 
Bobadil  style  —  hectoring  after  a  cavalier  fashion,  which  they 
fondly  believe  to  be  theirs  by  hereditary  right.  They  assume 
that  the  British  crown  rests  on  a  cotton  bale,  as  the  Lord 
Chancellor  sits  on  a  pack  of  wool. 

In  one  long  tent  there  was  a  party  of  roystering  young  men, 
opening  claret,  and  mixing  "  cup  "  in  large  buckets  ;  whilst 
others  were  helping  the  servants  to  set  out  a  table  for  a  ban 
quet  to  one  of  their  generals.  Such  heat,  tobacco-smoke, 
clamor,  toasts,  drinking,  hand-shaking,  vows  of  friendship  ! 
Many  were  the  excuses  made  for  the  more  demonstrative  of  the 
Edonian  youths  by  their  friends.  "  Torn  is  a  little  cut,  sir  ; 
but  he's  a  splendid  fellow — he's  worth  half-a-million  of  dol 
lars."  This  reference  to  a  money  standard  of  value  was  not 
unusual  or  perhaps  unnatural,  but  it  was  made  repeatedly; 
and  I  was  told  wonderful  tales  of  the  riches  of  men  who  were 
lounging  round,  dressed  as  privates,  some  of  whom  at  that 
season,  in  years  gone  by,  were  looked  for  at  the  watering 
places  as  the  great  lions  of  American  fashion.  But  Secession 
is  the  fashion  here.  Young  ladies  sing  for  it ;  old  ladies  pray 
for  it ;  young  men  are  dying  to  fight  for  it ;  old  men  are  ready 
to  demonstrate  it.  The  founder  of  the  school  was  St.  Calhoun. 
Here  his  pupils  carry  out  their  teaching  in  thunder  and  fire. 
States'  Rights  are  displayed  after  its  legitimate  teaching,  and 
the  Palmetto  flag  and  the  red  bars  of  the  Confederacy  are  its 
exposition.  The  utter  contempt  and  loathing  for  the  venerat 
ed  Stars  and  Stripes,  the  abhorrence  of  the  very  words  United 
States,  the  intense  hatred  of  the  Yankee  on  the  part  of  these 


106  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

people,  cannot  be  conceived  by  any  one  who  has  not  seen  them, 
lam  more  satisfied  than  ever  that  the  Union  can  never  be  re 
stored  as  it  was,  and  that  it  lias  gone  to  pieces,  never  to  be  put 
together  again,  in  the  old  shape,  at  all  events,  by  any  power 
on  earth. 

After  a  long  and  tiresome  promenade  in  the  dust,  heat,  and 
fine  sand,  through  the  tents,  our  party  returned  to  the  beach, 
where  we  took  boat,  and  pushed  off  for  Fort  Sumter.  The 
Confederate  flag  rose  above  the  walls.  On  near  approach  the 
marks  of  the  shot  against  the  pain  coupe,  and  the  embrasures 
near  the  salient  were  visible  enough ;  but  the  damage  done  to 
the  hard  brickwork  was  trifling,  except  at  the  angles  :  the  edges 
of  the  parapets  were  ragged  and  pock-marked,  and  the  quay 
wall  was  rifted  here  and  there  by  shot;  but  no  injury  of  a 
kind  to  render  the  work  untenable  could  be  made  out.  The 
greatest  damage  inflicted  was,  no  doubt,  the  burning  of  the 
barracks,  which  were  culpably  erected  inside  the  fort,  close 
to  the  flank  wall  facing  Cumming's  Point. 

As  the  boat  touched  the  quay  of  the  fort,  a  tall,  powerful- 
looking  man  came  through  the  shattered  gateway,  and  with 
uneven  steps  strode  over  the  rubbish  towards  a  skiff  which 
was  waiting  to  receive  him,  and  into  which  he  jumped  and 
rowed  off.  Recognizing  one  of  my  companions  as  he  passed 
our  boat  he  suddenly  stood  up,  and  with  a  leap  and  a  scramble 
tumbled  in  among  us,  to  the  imminent  danger  of  upsetting 
the  party.  Our  new  friend  was  dressed  in  the  blue  frock-coat 
of  a  civilian,  round  which  he  had  tied  a  red  silk  sash  —  his 
waistbelt  supported  a  straight  sword,  something  like  those 
worn  with  Court  dress.  His  muscular  neck  was  surrounded 
with  a  loosely-fastened  silk  handkerchief ;  and  wild  masses  of 
black  hair,  tinged  with  gray,  fell  from  under  a  civilian's  hat 
over  his  collar;  his  unstrapped  trousers  were  gathered  up 
high  on  his  legs,  displaying  ample  boots,  garnished  with  for 
midable  brass  spurs.  But  his  face  was  one  not  to  be  forgotten 
—  a  straight,  broad  brow,  from  which  the  hair  rose  up  like  the 
vegetation  on  a  river  bank,  beetling  black  eyebrows  —  a  mouth 
coarse  and  grim,  yet  full  of  power,  a  square  jaw  —  a  thick  ar 
gumentative  nose  —  a  new  growth  of  scrubby  beard  and  mus 
tache —  these  were  relieved  by  eyes  of  wonderful  depth  and 
light,  such  as  I  never  saw  before  but  in  the  head  of  a  wild 
beast.  If  you  look  some  day  when  the  sun  is  not  too  bright 
into  the  eye  of  the  Bengal  tiger,  in  the  Regent's  Park,  as  the 
keeper  is  coming  round,  you  will  form  some  notion  of  the  ex- 


COLONEL   WIGFALL.  107 

pression  I  mean.  It  was  flashing,  fierce,  yet  calm  —  with  a 
well  of  fire  burning  behind  and  spouting  through  it,  an  eye 
pitiless  in  anger,  which  now  and  then  sought  to  conceal  its 
expression  beneath  half-closed  lids,  and  then  burst  out  with  an 
angry  glare,  as  if  disdaining  concealment. 

This  was  none  other  than  Louis  T.  Wigfall,  Colonel  (then 
of  his  own  creation)  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  Senator 
from  Texas  in  the  United  States  —  a  good  type  of  the  men 
whom  the  institutions  of  the  country  produce  or  throw  off — 
a  remarkable  man,  noted  for  his  ready,  natural  eloquence  ;  his 
exceeding  ability  as  a  quick,  bitter  debater ;  the  acerbity  of  his 
taunts ;  and  his  readiness  for  personal  encounter.  To  the  last 
he  stood  in  his  place  in  the  Senate  at  Washington,  when 
nearly  every  other  Southern  man  had  seceded,  lashing  with  a 
venomous  and  instant  tongue,  and  covering  with  insults, 
ridicule,  and  abuse,  such  men  as  Mr.  Chandler,  of  Michigan, 
and  other  Republicans  :  never  missing  a  sitting  of  the  House, 
and  seeking  out  adversaries  in  the  bar-rooms  or  at  gam 
bling  tables.  The  other  day,  when  the  fire  against  Sumter 
was  at  its  height,  and  the  fort,  in  flames,  was  reduced  almost 
to  silence,  a  small  boat  put  off  from  the  shore,  and  steered 
through  the  shot  and  the  splashing  waters  right  for  the  walls. 
It  bore  the  Colonel  and  a  negro  oarsman.  Holding  up  a  white 
handkerchief  on  the  end  of  his  sword,  Wigfall  landed  on  the 
quay,  clambered  through  an  embrasure,  and  presented  himself 
before  the  astonished  Federals  with  a  proposal  to  surrender, 
quite  unauthorized,  and  "  on  his  own  hook,"  which  led  to  the 
final  capitulation  of  Major  Anderson. 

I  am  sorry  to  say,  our  distinguished  friend  had  just  been 
paying  his  respects  sans  homes  to  Bacchus  or  Bourbon,  for  he 
was  decidedly  unsteady  in  his  gait  and  thick  in  speech  ;  but  his 
head  was  quite  clear,  and  he  was  determined  1  should  know 
all  about  his  exploit.  Major  Whiting  desired  to  show  me 
round  the  work,  but  he  had  no  chance.  "  Here  is  where  I  got 
in,"  quoth  Colonel  Wigfall.  "  I  found  a  Yankee  standing  here 
by  the  traverse,  out  of  the  way  of  our  shot.  He  was  pretty 
well  scared  when  he  saw  me,  but  I  told  him  not  to  be  alarmed, 
but  to  take  me  to  the  officers.  There  they  were,  huddled  up 
in  that  corner  behind  the  brickwork,  for  our  shells  were 
tumbling  into  the  yard,  and  bursting  like  —  "  &c.  (The  Colonel 
used  strong  illustrations  and  strange  expletives  in  narrative.) 
Major  Whiting  shook  his  military  head,  and  said  something  un 
civil  to  me,  in  private,  in  reference  to  volunteer  colonels  and  the 


108  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

like,  which  gave  him  relief;  whilst  the  martial  Senator —  I  forgot 
to  say  that  lie  has  the  name,  particularly  in  the  North,  of  having 
killed  more  than  half  a  dozen  men  in  duels  —  (I  had  an  escape 
of  being  another)  —  conducted  me  through  the  casemates  with 
uneven  steps,  stopping  at  every  traverse  to  expatiate  on  some 
phase  of  his  personal  experiences,  with  his  sword  dangling 
between  his  legs,  and  spurs  involved  in  rubbish  and  soldiers' 
blankets. 

In  my  letter  I  described  the  real  extent  of  the  damage  in 
flicted,  and  the  state  of  the  fort  as  I  found  it.  At  first  the  bat 
teries  thrown  up  by  the  Carolinians  were  so  poor,  that  the  Unit 
ed  States  officers  in  the  fort  were  mightily  amused  at  them, 
and  anticipated  easy  work  in  enfilading,  ricocheting,  and  batter 
ing  them  to  pieces,  if  they  ever  dared  to  open  fire.  One 
morning,  however,  Capt.  Foster,  to  whom  really  belongs  the 
credit  of  putting  Sumter  into  a  tolerable  condition  of  defence 
with  the  most  limited  means,  was  unpleasantly  surprised  by 
seeing  through  his  glass  a  new  work  in  the  best  possible  situa 
tion  for  attacking  the  place,  growing  up  under  the  strenuous 
labors  of  a  band  of  negroes.  "  I  knew  at  once,"  he  said,  "  the 
rascals  had  got  an  engineer  at  last."  In  fact,  the  Carolinians 
were  actually  talking  of  an  escalade  when  the  officers  of  the 
regular  army,  who  had  "  seceded,"  came  down  and  took  the 
direction  of  affairs,  which  otherwise  might  have  had  very 
different  results. 

There  was  a  working  party  of  volunteers  clearing  away 
the  rubbish  in  the  place.  It  was  evident  they  were  not  accus 
tomed  to  labor.  And  on  asking  why  negroes  were  not  em 
ployed,  1  was  informed  :  "  The  niggers  would  blow  us  all  up, 
they're  so  stupid  ;  and  the  State  would  have  to  pay  the  owners 
for  any  of  them  who  were  killed  and  injured."  "  In  one  re 
spect,  then,  white  men  are  not  so  valuable  as  negroes?" 
"  Yes.  sir.  —  that's  a  fact." 

Very  few  shell  craters  were  visible  in  the  terreplein  ;  the 
military  mischief,  such  as  it  was,  showed  most  conspicuously 
on  the  parapet  platforms,  over  which  shells  had  been  burst  as 
heavily  as  could  be,  to  prevent  the  manning  of  the  barbette 
guns.  A  very  small  affair,  indeed,  that  shelling  of  Fort 
Suniter.  And  yet  who  can  tell  what  may  arise  from  it  ? 
"  Well,  sir,"  exclaimed  one  of  my  companions,  "  I  thank  God 
for  it,  if  it's  only  because  we  are  beginning  to  have  a  history 
for  Europe.  The  universal  Yankee  nation  swallowed  us  up." 

Never  did  men  plunge  into  unknown  depth    of   peril  and 


COLONEL   WIGFALL.  109 

1  rouble  more  recklessly  than  these  Carolinians.  They  fling 
themselves  against  the  grim,  black  future,  as  the  Cavaliers 
under  Rupert  may  have  rushed  against  the  grim,  black  Iron 
sides.  Will  they  carry  the  image  farther  ?  Well !  The 
exploration  of  Sumter  was  finished  at  last,  not  till  we  had  vis 
ited  the  officers  of  the  garrison,  who  lived  in  a  windowless, 
shattered  room,  reached  by  a  crumbling  staircase,  and  who 
produced  whiskey  and  crackers,  many  pleasant  stories  and 
boundless  welcome.  One  young  fellow  grumbled  about  pay. 
He  said  :  "  I  have  not  received  a  cent  since  I  came  to  Charles 
ton  for  this  business."  But  Major  Whiting,  some  days  after 
wards,  told  me  he  had  not  got  a  dollar  on  account  of  his  pay, 
though  on  leaving  the  United  States  army  he  had  abandoned 
nearly  all  his  means  of  subsistence.  These  gentlemen  were 
quite  satisfied  it  would  all  be  right  eventually  ;  and  no  one 
questioned  the  power  or  inclination  of  the  Government,  which 
had  just  been  inaugurated  under  such  strange  auspices,  to 
perpetuate  its  principles  and  reward  its  servants. 

After  a  time  our  party  went  down  to  the  boats,  in  which  we 
were  rowed  to  the  steamer  that  lay  waiting  for  us  at  Morris' 
Island.  The  original  intention  of  the  officers  was  to  carry  us 
over  to  Fort  Moultrie,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Channel, 
and  to  examine  it  and  the  floating  iron  battery  j  but  it  was  too 
late  to  do  so  when  we  got  off,  and  the  steamer  only  ran  across 
and  swept  around  homewards  by  the  other  shore.  Below,  in 
the  cabin,  there  was  spread  a  lunch  or  quasi  dinner;  and  the 
party  of  Senators,  past  and  present,  aides-de-camp,  journalists, 
and  flaneurs,  were  not  indisposed  to  join  it.  For  me  there 
was  only  one  circumstance  which  marred  the  pleasure  of  that 
agreeable  reunion.  Colonel  and  Senator  Wigfall,  who  had  not 
sobered  himself  by  drinking  deeply,  in  the  plenitude  of  his 
exultation  alluded  to  the  assault  on  Senator  Sumner  as  a  type 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  Southerners  would  deal  with  the 
Northerners  generally,'  and  cited  it  as  a  good  exemplification 
of  the  fashion  in  which  they  would  bear  their  "  whipping." 
Thence,  by  a  natural  digression,  he  adverted  to  the  inevitable 
consequences  of  the  magnificent  outburst  of  Southern  indig 
nation  against  the  Yankees  on  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  and 
to  the  immediate  action  of  England  in  the  matter  as  soon  as 
the  news  came.  Suddenly  reverting  to  Mr.  Sumner,  \vhose 
name  he  loaded  with  obloquy,  he  spoke  of  Lord  Lyons  in  terms 
so  coarse,  that,  forgetting  the  condition  of  the  speaker,  I  re 
sented  the  language  applied  to  the  English  Minister,  in  a  very 


110  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

unmistakable  manner  ;  and  then  rose  and  left  the  cabin.  In 
a  moment  I  was  followed  on  deck  by  Senator  "VVigfall :  his 
manner  much  calmer,  his  hair  brushed  back,  his  eye  sparkling. 
There  was  nothing  left  to  be  desired  in  his  apologies,  which 
were  repeated  and  energetic.  We  were  joined  by  Mr.  Man 
ning,  Major  Whiting,  and  Senator  Chestnut,  and  others,  to 
whom  I  expressed  my  complete  contentment  with  Mr.  Wig- 
fall's  explanations.  And  so  we  returned  to  Charleston.  The 
Colonel  and  Senator,  however,  did  not  desist  from  his  atten 
tions  to  the  good  —  or  bad  —  things  below.  It  was  a  strange 
scene  —  these  men,  hot  and  red-handed  in  rebellion,  with  their 
lives  on  the  cast,  trifling  and  jesting,  and  carousing  as  if  they 
had  no  care  on  earth  —  all  excepting  the  gentlemen  of  the 
local  press,  who  were  assiduous  in  note  and  food-taking.  It 
was  near  nightfall  before  we  set  foot  on  the  quay  of  Charles 
ton.  The  city  was  indicated  by  the  blaze  of  lights,  and  by  the 
continual  roll  of  drums,  and  the  noisy  music,  and  the  yelling 
cheers  which  rose  above  its  streets.  As  I  walked  towards  the 
hotel,  the  evening  drove  of  negroes,  male  and  female,  shuffling 
through  the  streets  in  all  haste,  in  order  to  escape  the  patrol 
and  the  last  peal  of  the  curfew  bell,  swept  by  me ;  and  as  I 
passed  the  guard-house  of  the  police,  one  of  my  friends  pointed 
out  the  armed  sentries  pacing  up  and  down  before  the  porch, 
and  the  gleam  of  arms  in  the  room  inside.  Further  on,  a 
squad  of  mounted  horsemen,  heavily  armed,  turned  up  a  by 
street,  and  with  jingling  spurs  and  sabres  disappeared  in  the 
dust  and  darkness.  That  is  the  horse  patrol.  They  scour  the 
country  around  the  city,  and  meet  at  certain  places  during  the 
night  to  see  if  the  niggers  are  all  quiet.  Ah,  Fuscus !  these 
are  signs  of  trouble. 

"  Integer  vitas,  scelerisque  purus 
Non  eget  Mauri  jaculis  neque  arcu, 
Nee  venenatis  gravida  sagittis, 
Fusee,  pharetrA." 

But  Fuscus  is  going  to  his  club ;  a  kindly,  pleasant,  chatty, 
card-playing,  cocktail-consuming  place.  He  -nods  proudly  to 
an  old  white-woolled  negro  steward  or  head-waiter  —  a  slave 
—  as  a  proof  which  I  cannot  accept,  with  the  curfew  tolling 
in  my  ears,  of  the  excellencies  of  the  domestic  institution. 
The  club  was  filled  with  officers  ;  one  of  them,  Mr.  liansome 
Calhoun,*  asked  me  what  was  the  object  which  most  struck  me 
*  Since  killed  in  a  duel  by  Mr.  Rhett. 


MENACING  THE  NORTH.  Ill 

at  Morris'  Island ;  I  tell  him  —  as  was  indeed  the  case  —  that  it 
was  a  letter-copying  machine,  a  case  of  official  stationery,  and 
a  box  of  Red  Tape,  lying  on  the  beach,  just  landed  and  ready 
to  grow  with  the  strength  of  the  young  independence. 

But  listen !  There  is  a  great  tumult,  as  of  many  voices 
coming  up  the  street,  heralded  by  blasts  of  music.  It  is  a 
speech-making  from  the  front  of  the  hotel.  Such  an  agitated, 
lively  multitude  !  How  they  cheer  the  pale,  frantic  man,  lim 
ber  and  dark-haired,  with  uplifted  arms  and  clinched  fists,  who 
is  perorating  on  the  balcony  !  "  What  did  he  say  ?  "  "  Who 
is  he  ?  "  "  Why  it's  he  again  !  "  "  That's  Roger  Pryor  —  he 
says  that  if  them  Yankee  trash  don't  listen  to  reason,  and 
stand  from  under,  we'll  march  to  the  North  and  dictate  the 
terms  of  peace  in  Faneuil  Hall!  Yes,  sir  —  and  so  we  will 
certa-i-n  su-re  !  "  "  No  matter,  for  all  that ;  we  have  shown 
we  can  whip  the  Yankees  whenever  we  meet  them  —  at 
Washington  or  down  here."  How  much  I  heard  of  all  this 
to-day  —  how  much  more  this  evening  !  The  hotel  as  noisy 
as  ever  —  more  men  in  uniform  arriving  every  few  minutes, 
and  the  hall  and  passages  crowded  with  tall,  good-looking 
Carolinians. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Slaves,  their  Masters  and  Mistresses  —  Hotels  —  Attempted  boat- 
journey  to  Fort  Moultrie  —  Excitement  at  Charleston  against 
New  York  —  Preparations  for  war  —  General  Beaurcgard — 
Southern  opinion  as  to  the  policy  of  the  North,  and  estimate  of 
the  effect  of  the  war  on  England,  through  the  cotton  market  — 
Aristocratic  feeling  in  the  South. 

April  18th.  —  It  is  as  though  we  woke  up  in  a  barrack. 
No  !  There  is  the  distinction,  that  in  the  passages  slaves  are 
moving  up  and  down  with  cups  of  iced  milk  or  water  for  their 
mistresses  in  the  early  morning,  cleanly  dressed,  neatly  clad, 
with  the  conceptions  of  Parisian  millinery  adumbrated  to  their 
condition,  and  transmitted  by  the  white  race,  hovering  round 
their  heads  and  bodies.  They  sit  outside  the  doors,  and  chatter 
in  the  passages  ;  and  as  the  Irish  waiter  brings  in  my  hot 
water  for  shaving,  there  is  that  odd,  round,  oily,  half-strangled, 
chuckling,  gobble  of  a  laugh  peculiar  to  the  female  Ethiop, 
coming  in  through  the  doorway. 

Later  in  the  day,  their  mistresses  sail  out  from  the  inner 
harbors,  and  launch  all  their  sails  along  the  passages,  down 
the  stairs,  and  into  the  long,  hot,  fluffy  salle-a-manger,  where, 
blackened  with  flies  which  dispute  the  viands,  they  take  their 
tremendous  meals.  They  are  pale,  pretty,  svelte  —  just  as  I 
was  about  to  say  they  were  rather  small,  there  rises  before  me 
the  recollection  of  one  Titanic  dame  —  a  Carolinian  Juno, 
with  two  lovely  peacock  daughters  —  and  I  refrain  from  gener 
alizing.  Exceedingly  proud  these  ladies  are  said  to  be  —  for 
a  generation  or  two  of  family  suffice  in  this  new  country,  it 
properly  supported  by  the  possession  of  negroes  and  acres,  to 
give  pride  of  birth,  and  all  the  grandeur  which  is  derived  from 
raising  raw  produce,  cereals,  and  cotton  —  sud  terra.  Their 
enemies  say  that  the  grandfathers  of  some  of  these  noble 
people  were  mere  pirates  and  smugglers,  who  dealt  in  a  cava 
lier  fashion  with  the  laws  and  with  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of 
fortune  on  the  seas  and  reefs  hereabouts.  Cotton  suddenly  — 


MAJOR  WHITING.  113 

almost  unnaturally,  as  far  as  the  ordinary  laws  of  commerce 
are  concerned,  grew  up  whilst  land  was  cheap,  and  slaves  were 
of  moderate  price  —  the  pirates,  and  piratesses  had  control  of 
both,  and  in  a  night  the  gourd  swelled  and  grew  to  a  prodig 
ious  size.  These  are  Northern  stories.  What  the  Southerners 
say  of  their  countrymen  and  women  in  the  upper  part  of  this 
u  blessed  Union  "  I  have  written  for  the  edification  of  people 
at  home. 

The  tables  in  the  eating-room  are  disposed  in  long  rows,  or 
detached;  so  as  to  suit  private  parties.  When  I  was  coming 
down  to  Charleston,  one  of  my  fellow-passengers  told  me  he 
was  quite  shocked  the  first  time  he  saw  white  people  acting  as 
servants  ;  but  no  such  scruples  existed  in  the  Mills  House,  for 
the  waiters  were  all  Irish,  except  one  or  two  Germans.  The 
carte  is  much  the  same  at  all  American  hotels,  the  variations 
depending  on  local  luxuries  or  tastes.  Marvellous  exceedingly 
is  it  to  see  the  quantities  of  butter,  treacle,  and  farinaceous 
matters  prepared  in  the  heaviest  form  —  of  lish,  of  many 
meats,  of  eggs  scrambled  or  scarred  or  otherwise  prepared, 
of  iced  milk  and  water,  which  an  American  will  consume  in  a 
few  minutes  in  the  mornings.  There  is,  positively,  no  rest  at 
these  meals  —  no  repose.  The  guests  are  ever  passing  in  and 
out  of  the  room,  chairs  are  forever  pushed  to  and  fro  with  a 
harsh  grating  noise  that  sets  the  teeth  on  edge,  and  there  is  a 
continual  clatter  of  plates  and  metal.  Every  man  is  reading 
his  paper,  or  discussing  the  news  with  his  neighbor.  I  was 
introduced  to  a  vast  number  of  people  and  was  asked  many 
questions  respecting  my  views  of  Sumter,  or  what  I  thought 
"  old  Abe  and  Seward  would  do  ?  "  The  proclamation  calling 
out  75,000  men  issued  by  said  old  Abe,  they  treat  with  the 
most  profound  contempt  or  unsparing  ridicule,  as  the  case  may 
be.  Five  out  of  six  of  the  men  at  table  wore  uniforms  this 
morning. 

Having  made  the  acquaintance  of  several  warriors,  as  well 
as  that  of  a  Russian  gentleman,  Baron  Sternberg,  who  was 
engaged  in  looking  about  him  in  Charleston,  and  was,  like  most 
foreigners,  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  actum  est  de  Re- 
publicd,  I  went  out  with  Major  WThiting*  and  Mr.  Ward,  the 
former  of  whom  was  anxious  to  show  me  Fort  Moultrie  and 
the  left  side  of  the  Channel,  in  continuation  of  my  trip  yester 
day.  It  was  arranged  that  we  should  go  off  as  quietly  as  pos 
sible,  "so  as  to  prevent  the  newspapers  knowing  anything 
*  Now  Confederate  General. 


114  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

about  it."  The  Major  has  a  great  dislike  to  the  gentlemen  of 
the  press,  and  General  Beauregard  had  sent  orders  for  the 
staff-boat  to  be  prepared,  so  as  to  be  quiet  and  private,  but  the 
fates  were  against  us.  On  going  down  to  the  quay,  we  learn 
ed  that  a  gentleman  had  come  down  with  an  officer  and  had 
gone  off  in  our  skiff,  the  boat-keepers  believing  they  were  the 
persons  for  whom  it  was  intended.  In  fact,  our  Russian  friend, 
Baron  Sternberg,  had  stolen  a  march  upon  us. 

After  a  time,  the  Major  succeeded  in  securing  the  services 
of  the  very  smallest,  most  untrustworthy,  and  ridiculous-look 
ing  craft  ever  seen  by  mortal  eyes.  If  Charon  had  put  a  two- 
horse  power  engine  into  his  skiff,  it  might  have  borne  some 
resemblance  to  this  egregious  cymbalus,  which  had  once  been 
a  flat-bottomed,  opened-decked  cutter  or  galley,  into  the  midst 
of  which  the  owner  had  forced  a  small  engine  and  paddle- 
wheels,  and  at  the  stern  had  erected  a  roofed  caboose,  or 
oblong  pantry,  sacred  to  oil-cans  and  cockroaches.  The  crew 
consisted  of  the  first  captain  and  the  second  captain,  a  lad  of 
tender  years,  and  that  was  all.  Into  the  pantry  we  scrambled, 
and  sat  down  knee  to  knee,  whilst  the  engine  was  getting  up 
its  steam  :  a  very  obstinate  and  anti-caloric  little  engine  it 
was  —  puffing  and  squeaking,  leaking,  and  distilling  drops  of 
water,  and  driving  out  blasts  of  steam  in  unexpected  places. 

As  long  as  we  lay  at  the  quay  all  was  right.  The  Major 
was  supremely  happy,  for  he  could  talk  about  Thackeray  and 
his  writings  —  a  theme  of  which  he  never  tired  —  nay,  on 
which  his  enthusiasm  reached  the  height  of  devotional  fervor. 
Did  I  ever  know  any  one  like  Major  Pendennis  ?  Was  it 
known  who  Becky  Sharp  was  ?  Who  was  the  O'Mulligan  ? 
These  questions  were  mere  hooks  on  which  to  hang  rhapsodies 
and  delighted  dissertation.  He  might  have  got  down  as  far  as 
Pendennis  himself,  when  a  lively  swash  of  water  flying  over 
the  preposterous  little  gunwales,  and  dashing  over  our  boots 
into  the  cabin,  announced  that  our  bark  was  under  way. 
There  is,  we  were  told,  for  several  months  in  the  year,  a  brisk 
breeze  from  the  southward  and  eastward  in  and  off  Charles 
ton  Harbor,  and  there  was  to-day  a  small  joggle  in  the  water 
which  would  not  have  affected  anything  floating  except  our 
steamer ;  but  as  we  proceeded  down  the  narrow  channel  by 
C/n^tle  Pinckney,  the  little  boat  rolled  as  if  she  would  cap 
size  every  moment,  and  made  no  pretence  at  doing  more  than 
a  mile  an  hour  at  her  best ;  and  it  became  evident  that  our 
voyage  would  be  neither  pleasant,  prosperous,  nor  speedy. 


AN  ABORTIVE  EXCURSION".  115 

Still  the  Major  went  on  between  the  lurches,  and  drew  his 
feet  up  out  of  the  water,  in  order  to  have  "a  quiet  chat,"  as 
lie  said,  "about  my  favorite  author."  My  companion  and  my 
self  could  not  condense  ourselves  or  foreshorten  our  nether 
limbs  quite  so  deftly. 

Standing  out  from  the  shelter  towards  Sumter,  the  sea 
came  rolling  on  our  beam,  making  the  miserable  craft  oscil 
late  as  if  some  great  hand  had  caught  her  by  the  funnel  — 
Yankeeice,  smokestack  —  and  was  rolling  her  backwards  and 
forwards,  as  a  preliminary  to  a  final  keel  over.  The  water 
came  in  plentifully,  and  the  cabin  was  flooded  with  a  small 
sea:  the  latter  partook  of  the  lively  character  of  the  external 
fluid,  and  made  violent  efforts  to  get  overboard  to  join  it,  which 
generally  were  counteracted  by  the  better  sustained  and 
directed  attempts  of  the  external  to  get  inside.  The  captain 
seemed  very  unhappy  ;  the  rest  of  the  crew  —  our  steerer  — 
had  discovered  that  the  steamer  would  not  steer  at  all,  and 
that  we  were  rolling  like  a  log  on  the  water.  Certainly 
neither  Pinckney,  nor  Sumter,  nor  Moultrie  altered  their 
relative  bearings  and  distances  towards  us  for  half  an  hour  or 
so,  though  they  bobbed  up  and  down  continuously.  "  But  it 
is,"  said  the  Major,  "  in  the  character  of  Colonel  Newcome 
that  Thackeray  has,  in  my  opinion,  exhibited  the  greatest 
amount  of  power ;  the  tenderness,  simplicity,  love,  manliness, 

and "  Here  a  walloping  muddy-green  wave  came  "  all 

aboard,"  and  the  cymbalus  gave  decided  indications  of  turning 
turtle.  We  were  wet  and  miserable,  and  two  hours  or  more 
had  now  passed  in  making  a  couple  of  miles.  The  tide  was 
setting  more  strongly  against  us,  and  just- off  Moultrie,  in  the 
tideway  between  its  walls  and  Sumter,  could  be  seen  the  heads 
of  the  sea-horses  unpleasantly  crested.  I  know  not  what  ot 
eloquent  disquisition  I  lost,  for  the  Major  was  evidently  in 
his  finest  moment  and  on  his  best  subject,  but  I  ventured  to 
suggest  that  we  should  bout  ship  and  return  —  and  thus  arous 
ed  him  to  a  sense  of  his  situation.  And  so  we  wore  round  — 
a  very  delicate  operation,  which,  by  judicious  management  in 
getting  side  bumps  of  the  sea  at  favorable  movements,  we 
were  enabled  to  effect  in  some  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes ; 
and  then  we  became  so  parboiled  by  the  heat  from  the  engine, 
that  conversation  was  impossible. 

How  glad  we  were  to  land  once  more  I  need  not  say.  As 
I  gave  the  captain  a  small  votive  tablet  of  metal,  he  said, 
*'  I'm  thinkiii*  it's  very  well  yes  turned  back.  Av  we'd  gone 


116  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

any  further,  devil  aback  ever  we'd  have  come."     "  Why  didn't 
you  say  so  before?"     "Sure  I  didn't  like  to  spoil  the  trip." 

My  gifted  countryman  and  I  parted  to  meet  no  more. 

****** 

Second  and  third  editions  and  extras !  News  of  Secession 
meetings  and  of  Union  meetings  !  Every  one  is  filled  with 
indignation  against  the  city  of  New  York,  on  account  of  the 
way  in  which  the  news  of  the  reduction  of  Fort  Sumter  has 
been  received  there.  New  England  has  acted  just  as  was  ex 
pected,  but  better  things  were  anticipated  on  the  part  of  the 
Empire  City.  There  is  no  sign  of  shrinking  from  a  contest : 
on  the  contrary,  the  Carolinians  are  full  of  eagerness  to  test 
their  force  in  the  field.  "  Let  them  come  !  "  is  their  boastful 
mot  d'ordre. 

The  anger  which  is  reported  to  exist  in  the  North  only  adds 
to  the  fury  and  animosity  of  the  Carolinians.  They  are  de 
termined  now  to  act  on  their  sovereign  rights  as  a  State,  cost 
what  it  may,  and  uphold  the  ordinance  of  secession.  The 
answers  of  several  State  Governors  to  President  Lincoln's  de 
mand  for  troops,  have  delighted  our  friends.  Beriah  Magoffin, 
of  Kentucky,  declares  he  won't  give  any  men  for  such  a 
wicked  purpose ;  and  another  gubernatorial  dignitary  laconi 
cally  replied  to  the  demand  for  so  many  thousand  soldiers, 
"  Nary  one."  Letcher,  Governor  of  Virginia,  has  also  sent  a 
refusal.  From  the  North  comes  news  of  mass-meetings,  of 
hauling  down  Secession  colors,  mobbing  Secession  papers,  of 
military  bodies  turning  out,  banks  subscribing  and  lending. 

Jefferson  Davis  has  met  President  Lincoln's  proclamation 
by  a  counter  manifesto,  issuing  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal 
—  on  all  sides  preparations  for  war.  The  Southern  agents  are 
buying  steamers,  but  they  fear  the  Northern  States  will  use 
their  navy  to  enforce  a  blockade,  which  is  much  dreaded,  as  it 
will  cut  off  supplies  and  injure  the  commerce,  on  which  they 
so  much  depend.  Assuredly  Mr.  Seward  cannot  know  any 
thing  of  the  feeling  of  the  South,  or  he  would  not  be  so  con 
fident  as  he  was  that  all  would  blow  over,  and  that  the  States, 
deprived  of  the  care  and  fostering  influences  of  the  general 
Government,  would  get  tired  of  their  Secession  ordinances, 
and  of  their  experiment  to  maintain  a  national  life,  so  that  the 
United  States  will  be  reestablished  before  long. 

I  went  over  and  saw  General  Beauregard  at  his  quarters. 
He  was  busy  with  papers,  orderlies,  and  despatches,  and  the 
outer  room  was  crowded  with  officers.  His  present  task,  he 


GENERAL  BEAUREGARD.  117 

told  me,  was  to  put  Sumter  in  a  state  of  defence,  and  to  dis 
arm  the  works  bearing  on  it,  so  as  to  get  their  fire  directed  on 
the  harbor-approaches,  as  "  the  North  in  its  madness  "  might 
attempt  a  naval  attack  on  Charleston.  His  manner  of  trans 
acting  business  is  clear  and  rapid.  Two  vases  filled  with 
flowers  on  his  table,  flanking  his  maps  and  plans  ;  and  a  little 
hand  bouquet  of  roses,  geraniums,  and  scented  flowers  lay  on 
a  letter  which  he  was  writing  as  I  came  in,  by  way  of  paper 
weight.  He  offered  me  every  assistance  and  facility,  relying, 
of  course,  on  my  strict  observance  of  a  neutral's  duty.  I 
reminded  him  once  more,  that  as  the  representative  of  an  Eng 
lish  journal,  it  would  be  my  duty  to  write  freely  to  England 
respecting  what  I  saw  ;  and  that  I  must  not  be  held  account 
able  if  on  the  return  of  my  letters  to  America,  a  month  after 
they  were  written,  it  was  found  they  contained  information  to 
which  circumstances  might  attach  an  objectionable  character. 
The  General  said,  "  I  quite  understand  you.  We  must  take 
our  chance  of  that,  and  leave  you  to  exercise  your  discre 
tion." 

In  the  evening  I  dined  with  our  excellent  Consul,  Mr. 
Bunch,  who  had  a  small  and  very  agreeable  party  to  meet 
me.  One  very  venerable  old  gentleman,  named  Huger  (pro 
nounced  as  Hugee),  was  particularly  interesting  in  appearance 
and  conversation.  He  formerly  held  some  official  appointment 
under  the  Federal  Government,  but  had  gone  out  with  his 
State,  and  had  been  confirmed  in  his  appointment  by  the  Con 
federate  Government.  Still  he  was  not  happy  at  the  pros 
pect  before  him  or  his  country.  "  I  have  lived  too  long,"  he 
exclaimed  ;  "I  should  have  died  ere  these  evil  days  arrived." 
What  thoughts,  indeed,  must  have  troubled  his  mind  when  he 
reflected  that  his  country  was  but  little  older  than  himself; 
for  he  was  one  who  had  shaken  hands  with  the  framers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  But  though  the  tears  rolled 
down  his  cheeks  when  he  spoke  of  the  prospect  of  civil  war, 
there  was  no  symptom  of  apprehension  for  the  result,  or  in 
deed  of  any  regret  for  the  contest,  which  he  regarded  as  the 
natural  consequence  of  the  insults,  injustice,  and  aggression 
of  the  North  against  Southern  rights. 

Only  one  of  the  company,  a  most  lively,  quaint,  witty  old 
lawyer  named  Petigru,  dissented  from  the  doctrines  of  Seces 
sion  ;  but  he  seems  to  be  treated  as  an  amiable,  harmless  per 
son,  who  has  a  weakness  of  intellect  or  a  "  bee  in  his  bonnet " 
on  this  particular  matter. 


118  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

It  was  scarcely  very  agreeable  to  my'  host  or  myself  to  find 
that  no  considerations  were  believed  to  be  of  consequence  in 
reference  to  England  except  her  material  interests,  and  that 
these  worthy  gentlemen  regarded  her  as  a  sort  of  appanage  of 
their  cotton  kingdom.  "  Why,  sir,  we  have  only  to  shut  off 
your  supply  of  cotton  for  a  few  weeks,  and  we  can  create  a 
revolution  in  Great  Britain.  There  are  four  millions  of  your 
people  depending  on  us  for  their  bread,  not  to  speak  of  the 
many  millions  of  dollars.  No,  sir,  we  know  that  England 
must  recognize  us,"  &c.  * 

Liverpool  and  Manchester  have  obscured  all  Great  Britain 
to  the  Southern  eye.  I  confess  the  tone  of  my  friends  irri 
tated  me.  I  said  so  to  Mr.  Bunch,  who  laughed  and  re 
marked,  "  You'll  not  mind  it  when  you  get  as  much  accus 
tomed  to  this  sort  of  thing  as  I  am."  I  could  not  help  saying, 
that  if  Great  Britain  were  such  a  sham  as  they  supposed,  the 
sooner  a  hole  was  drilled  in  her,  and  the  whole  empire  sunk 
under  water,  the  better  for  the  world,  the  cause  of  truth,  and 
of  liberty. 

These  tall,  thin,  fine-faced  Carolinians  are  great  materialists. 
Slavery  perhaps  has  aggravated  the  tendency  to  look  at  all  the 
world  through  parapets  of  cotton  bales  and  rice  bags,  and  though 
more  stately  and  less  vulgar,  the  worshippers  here  are  not  less 
prostrate  before  the  "  almighty  dollar  "  than  the  Northerners. 
Again  cropping  out  of  the  dead  level  of  hate  to  the  Yankee, 
grows  its  climax  in  the  profession  from  nearly  every  one  of 
the  guests,  that  he  would  prefer  a  return  to  British  rule  to  any 
reunion  with  New  England.  "  The  names  in  South  Carolina 
show  our  origin  —  Charleston,  and  Ashley,  and  Cooper,  &c. 
Our  Gadsden,  Sumter  and  Pinckney  were  true  cavaliers,"  &c. 
They  did  not  say  anything  about  Pedee,  or  Tombigbee,  or  Sul 
livan's  Island,  or  the  like.  We  all  have  our  little  or  big  weak 
nesses. 

I  see  no  trace  of  cavalier  descent  in  the  names  of  Huger, 
Rose,  Manning,  Chestnut,  Pickens ;  but  there  is  a  profession 
of  faith  in  the  cavaliers  and  their  cause  among  them  because 
it  is  fashionable  in  Carolina.  They  affect  the  agricultural 
faith  and  the  belief  of  a  landed  gentry.  It  is  not  only  over 
the  wineglass  —  why  call  it  cup  ?  —  that  they  ask  for  a  Prince 
to  reign  over  them  ;  I  have  heard  the  wish  repeatedly  ex 
pressed  within  the  last  two  days  that  we  could  spare  them  one 
of  our  young  Princes,  but  never  in  jest  or  in  any  frivolous 
manner. 


CAKE   OF  SLAVES.  119 

On  my  way  home  again,  I  saw  the  sentries  on  their  march, 
the  mounted  patrols  starting  on  their  ride,  and  other  evidences 
that  though  the  slaves  are  "  the  happiest  and  most  contented 
race  in  the  world,"  they  require  to  be  taken  care  of  like  less 
favored  mortals.  The  city  watch-house  is  filled  every  night 
with  slaves,  who  are  confined  there  till  reclaimed  by  their 
owners,  whenever  they  are  found  out  after  nine  o'clock,  p.  M., 
without  special  passes  or  permits.  Guns  are  firing  for  the 
Ordinance  of  Secession  of  Virginia. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Charleston;  the  Market-place  —  Irishmen  at  Charleston  —  Governor 
Pickens  :  his  political  economy  and  theories  — Newspaper  offices 
and  counting-houses  —  Rumors  as  to  the  war  policy  of  the  South. 

April  19th.  —  An  exceeding  hot  day.  The  sun  pours  on 
the  broad  sandy  street  of  Charleston  with  immense  power,  and 
when  the  wind  blows  down  the  thoroughfare  it  sends  before 
it  .vast  masses  of  hot  dust.  The  houses  are  generally  detached, 
surrounded  by  small  gardens,  well  provided  with  verandas  to 
protect  the  windows  from  the  glare,  and  are  sheltered  with 
creepers  and  shrubs  and  flowering  plants,  through  which  flit 
humming-birds  and  fly-catchers.  In  some  places  the  streets 
and  roadways  are  covered  with  planking,  and  as  long  as  the 
wood  is  sound  they  are  pleasant  to  walk  or  drive  upon. 

I  paid  a  visit  to  the  markets  ;  the  stalls  are  presided  over  by 
negroes,  male  and  female  ;  the  colored  people  engaged  in  sell 
ing  and  buying  are  well  clad  ;  the  butchers'  meat  by  no  means 
tempting  to  the  eye,  but  the  fruit  and  vegetable  stalls  well 
filled.  Fish  is  scarce  at  present,  as  the  boats  are  not  permit 
ted  to  proceed  to  sea  lest  they  should  be  whipped  up  by  the  ex 
pected  Yankee  cruisers,  or  carry  malecontents  to  communicate 
with  the  enemy.  Around  the  flesh-market  there  is  a  skirling 
crowd  of  a  kind  of  turkey-buzzard ;  these  are  useful  as  scaven 
gers  and  are  protected  by  law.  They  do  their  nasty  work 
very  zealously,  descending  on  the  oflfal  thrown  out  to  them, 
with  the  peculiar  crawling,  puffy,  soft  sort  of  flight  which  is 
the  badge  of  all  their  tribe,  and  contending  with  wing  and  beak 
against  the  dogs  which  dispute  the  viands  with  the  harpies. 
It  is  curious  to  watch  the  expression  of  their  eyes  as  with  out 
stretched  necks  they  peer  down  from  the  ledge  of  the  market 
roof  on  the  stalls  and  scrutinize  the  operations  of  the  butchers 
below.  They  do  not  prevent  a  disagreeable  odor  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  markets,  nor  are  they  deadly  to  a  fine  and 
active  breed  of  rats. 

Much  drumming  and  marching  through  the  streets  to-day. 


GOVERNOR  PICKENS.  121 

One  very  ragged  regiment  which  had  been  some  time  at  Mor 
ris'  Island  halted  in  the  shade  near  me,  and  I  was  soon  made 
aware  they  consisted,  for  the  great  majority,  of  Irishmen. 
The  Emerald  Isle,  indeed,  has  contributed  largely  to  the  pop 
ulation  of  Charleston.  In  the  principal  street  there  is  a 
large  and  fine  red-sandstone  building  with  the  usual  Greek- 
Yankee-composite  portico,  over  which  is  emblazoned  the 
crownless  harp  and  the  shamrock  wreath  proper  to  a  St. 
Patrick's  Hall,  and  several  Roman  Catholic  churches  also 
attest  the  Hibernian  presence. 

I  again  called  on  General  Beauregard,  and  had  a  few  mo 
ments'  conversation  with  him.  He  told  me  that  an  immense 
deal  depended  on  Virginia,  and  that  as  yet  the  action  of  the 
people  in  that  State  had  not  been  as  prompt  as  might  have 
been  hoped,  for  the  President's  proclamation  was  a  declaration 
of  war  against  the  South,  in  which  all  would  be  ultimately  in 
volved.  He  is  going  to  Montgomery  to  confer  with  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  Davis.  I  have  no  doubt  there  is  to  be  some  movement 
made  in  Virginia.  Whiting  is  under  orders  to  repair  there, 
and  he  hinted  that  he  had  a  task  of  no  common  nicety  and  diffi 
culty  to  perform.  He  is  to  visit  the  forts  which  had  been  seized 
on  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  and  probably  will  have  a  look 
at  Portsmouth.  It  is  incredible  that  the  Federal  authorities 
should  have  neglected  to  secure  this  place. 

Later  I  visited  the  Governor  of  the  State,  Mr.  Pickens,  to 
whom  I  was  conducted  by  Colonel  Lucas,  his  aide-de-camp. 
His  palace  was  a  very  humble  shed-like  edifice  with  large 
rooms,  on  the  doors  of  which  were  pasted  pieces  of  paper 
with  sundry  high -reading  inscriptions,  such  as  "Adjutant 
General's  Dept.,"  "  Quartermaster-  General's  Dept.,"  "Attor 
ney-General  of  State,"  &c. ;  and  through  the  doorways  could 
be  seen  men  in  uniform,  and  grave,  earnest  people  busy  at 
their  desks  with  pen,  ink,  paper,  tobacco,  and  spittoons.  The 
governor,  a  stout  man,  of  a  big  head,  and  a  large,  important- 
looking  face,  with  watery  eyes  and  flabby  features,  was  seated 
in  a  barrack-like  room,  furnished  in  the  plainest  way,  and 
decorated  by  the  inevitable  portrait  of  George  Washington, 
close  to  which  was  the  "  Ordinance  of  Secession  of  the  State 
of  South  Carolina"  of  last  year. 

Governor  Pickens  is  considerably  laughed  at  by  his  sub 
jects  ;  and  I  was  amused  by  a  little  middy,  who  described  with 
much  unction  the  Governor's  alarm  on  his  visit  to  Fort  Pick- 
ens,  when  he  was  told  that  there  were  a  number  of  live  shells 
6 


122  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

and  a  quantity  of  powder  still  in  the  place.  He  is  said  to 
have  commenced  one  of  his  speeches  with  "  Born  insensible 
to  fear,"  &c.  To  me  the  Governor  was  very  courteous ;  but  I 
confess  the  heat  of  the  day  did  not  dispose  me  to  listen  with 
due  attention  to  a  lecture  on  political  economy  with  which  he 
favored  me.  I  was  told,  however,  that  he  had  practised  with 
success  on  the  late  Czar  when  he  was  United  States  Minister 
to  St.  Petersburg,  and  that  he  does  not  suffer  his  immediate 
staff  to  escape  from  having  their  minds  improved  on  the  rela 
tions  of  capital  to  labor,  and  on  the  vicious  condition  of  capital 
and  labor  in  the  North. 

"  In  the  North,  then,  you  will  perceive,  Mr.  Russell,  they 
have  maximized  the  hostile  condition  of  opposed  interests  in 
the  accumulation  of  capital  and  in  the  employment  of  labor, 
whilst  we  in  the  South,  by  the  peculiar  excellence  of  our  do 
mestic  institution,  have  minimized  their  opposition  and  max 
imized  the  identity  of  interest  by  the  investment  of  capital  in 
the  laborer  himself,"  and  so  on,  or  something  like  it.  I  could 
not  help  remarking  it  struck  me  there  was  "  another  difference 
betwixt  the  North  and  the  South  which  he  had  overlooked,  — 
the  capital  of  the  North  is  represented  by  gold,  silver,  notes, 
and  other  exponents,  which  are  good  all  the  world  over  and 
are  recognized  as  such ;  your  capital  has  power  of  locomotion, 
and  ceases  to  exist  the  moment  it  crosses  a  geographical  line." 
"  That  remark,  sir,"  said  the  Governor,  "  requires  that  I 
should  call  your  attention  to  the  fundamental  principles  on 
which  the  abstract  idea  of  capital  should  be  formed.  In  order 
to  clear  the  ground,  let  us  first  inquire  into  the  soundness  of 

the  ideas  put  forward  by  your  Adam  Smith." 1  had  to 

look  at  my  watch  and  to  promise  I  would  come  back  to  be 
illuminated  on  some  other  occasion,  and  hurried  off  to  keep 
an  engagement  with  myself  to  write  letters  by  the  next  mail. 

The  Governor  writes  very  good  proclamations,  neverthe 
less,  and  his  confidence  in  South  Carolina  is  unbounded.  "  If 
we  stand  alone,  sir,  we  must  win.  They  can't  whip  us."  A 
gentleman  named  Pringle,  for  whom  I  had  letters  of  intro 
duction,  has  come  to  Charleston  to  ask  me  to  his  plantation,  but 
there  will  be  no  boat  from  the  port  till  Monday,  and  it  is  un 
certain  then  whether  the  blockading  vessels,  of  which  we  hear 
so  much,  may  not  be  down  by  that  time. 

April  20th. —  I  visited  the  editors  of  the  "  Charleston  Mercu 
ry  "  and  the  "  Charleston  Courier  "  to-day  at  their  offices.  The 
Rhett  family  have  been  active  agitators  for  secession,  and  it  is 


AMONG  THE  CHARLESTONIANS.  123 

said  they  are  not  over  well  pleased  with  Jefferson  Davis  for 
neglecting  their  claims  to  office.  The  elder,  a  pompous,  hard, 
ambitious  man,  possesses  ability.  He  is  fond  of  alluding  to 
his  English  connections  and  predilections,  and  is  intolerant  of 
New  England  to  the  last  degree.  I  received  from  him,  ere  I 
left,  a  pamphlet  on  his  life,  career  and  services.  In  the  news 
paper  offices  there  was  nothing  worthy  of  remark  ;  they  were 
possessed  of  that  obscurity  which  is  such  a  characteristic  of  , 
the  haunts  of  journalism  —  the  clouds  in  which  the  lightning// 
is  hiding.  Thence  to  haunts  more  dingy  still  where  Plutus' 
lives  —  to  the  counting-houses  of  the  cotton  brokers,  up  many 
pairs  of  stairs  into  large  rooms  furnished  with  hard  seats,  en 
gravings  of  celebrated  clippers,  advertisements  of  emigrant 
agencies  and  of  lines  of  steamers,  little  flocks  of  cotton,  spec 
imens  of  rice,  grain,  and  seed  in  wooden  bowls,  and  clerks 
living  inside  railings,  with  secluded  spittoons,  and  ledgers,  and 
tumblers  of  water. 

I  called  on  several  of  the  leading  merchants  and  bankers, 
such  as  Mr.  Rose,  Mr.  Muir,  Mr.  Trenholm,  and  others. 
With  all  it  was  the  same  story.  Their  young  men  were  off 
to  the  wars  —  no  business  doing.  In  one  office  I  saw  an  an 
nouncement  of  a  company  for  a  direct  communication  by 
steamers  between  a  southern  port  and  Europe.  "  When  do 
you  expect  that  line  to  be  opened  ?  "  I  asked.  "  The  United 
States  cruisers  will  surely  interfere  with  it."  "  Why,  I  ex 
pect,  sir,"  replied  the  merchant,  "  that  if  those  miserable 
Yankees  try  to  blockade  us,  and  keep  you  from  our  cotton, 
you'll  just  send  their  ships  to  the  bottom  and  acknowledge  us. 
That  will  be  before  autumn,  I  think."  It  was  in  vain  I 
assured  him  he  would  be  disappointed.  "  Look  out  there,"  he 
said,  pointing  to  the  wharf,  on  which  were  piled  some  cotton 
bales ;  "  there's  the  key  will  open  all  our  ports,  and  put  us  into 
John  Bull's  strong  box  as  well." 

I  dined  to-day  at  the  hotel,  notwithstanding  many  hospita 
ble  invitations,  with  Messrs.  Manning,  Porcher  Miles,  Reed, 
and  Pringle.  Mr.  Trescot,  who  was  Under  Secretary  of  State 
in  Mr.  Buchanan's  Cabinet,  joined  us,  and  I  promised  to  visit 
his  plantation  as  soon  as  I  have  returned  from  Mr.  Pringle's. 
We  heard  much  the  same  conversation  as  usual,  relieved  by 
Mr.  Trescot's  sound  sense  and  philosophy.  He  sees  clearly 
the  evils  of  slavery,  but  is,  like  all  of  us,  unable  to  discover 
the  solution  and  means  of  averting  them. 

The  Secessionists  are  in  great  delight  with  Governor  Letch- 


124  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

er's  proclamation,  calling  out  troops  and  volunteers,  and  it  is 
hinted  that  Washington  will  be  attacked,  and  the  nest  of 
Black  Republican  vermin  which  haunt  the  capital,  driven  out. 
Agents  are  to  be  at  once  despatched  to  get  up  a  navy,  and 
every  effort  made  to  carry  out  the  policy  indicated  in  Jeff 
Davis's  issue  of  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal.  Norfolk  har 
bor  is  blocked  up  to  prevent  the  United  States  ships  getting 
away  ;  and  at  the  same  time  we  hear  that  the  Unites  States 
officer  commanding  at  the  arsenal  of  Harper's  Ferry  has  re 
tired  into  Pennsylvania,  after  destroying  the  place  by  fire. 
How  "  old  John  Brown  "  would  have  wondered  and  rejoiced, 
had  he  lived  a  few  months  longer ! 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Visit  to  a  plantation  ;  hospitable  reception  —  By  steamer  to  George 
town  —  Description  of  the  town  —  A  country  mansion  —  Masters 
and  slaves  —  Slave  diet  —  Humming-birds  —  Land  irrigation  — 
Negro  quarters  — Back  to  Georgetown. 

April  2lst.  —  In  the  afternoon  I  went  with  Mr.  Porcher 
Miles  to  visit  a  small  farm  and  plantation,  some  miles  from 
the  city,  belonging  to  Mr.  Crafts.  Our  arrival  was  unex 
pected,  but  the  planter's  welcome  was  warm.  Mrs.  Crafts 
showed  us  round  the  place,  of  which  the  beauties  were  due  to 
nature  rather  than  to  art,  and  so  far  the  lady  was  the  fitting 
mistress  of  the  farm. 

We  wandered  through  tangled  brakes  and  thick  Indian-like 
jungle,  filled  with  disagreeable  insects,  down  to  the  edge  of  a 
small  lagoon.  The  beach  was  perforated  with  small  holes,  in 
which  Mrs.  Crafts  said  little  crabs,  called  "  fiddlers  "  from  their 
resemblance  in  petto  to  a  performer  on  the  fiddle  make  their 
abode  ;  but  neither  them  nor  "  spotted  snakes "  did  we  see. 
And  so  to  dinner,  for  which  our  hostess  made  needless  ex 
cuses.  "  I  am  afraid  I  shall  have  to  ask  you  to  eke  out  your 
dinner  with  potted  meats,  but  I  can  answer  for  Mr.  Crafts 
giving  you  a  bottle  of  good  old  wine."  "  And  what  better, 
madam,"  quoth  Mr.  Miles,  "  what  better  can  you  offer  a  sol 
dier  ?  What  do  we  expect  but  grape  and  canister  ?  " 

Mr.  Miles,  who  was  formerly  member  of  the  United  States 
Congress,  and  who  has  now  migrated  to  the  Confederate 
States  of  America,  rendered  himself  conspicuous  a  few  years 
ago  when  a  dreadful  visitation  of  yellow  fever  came  upon 
Norfolk  and  destroyed  one  half  of  the  inhabitants.  At  that 
terrible  time,  when  all  who  could  move  were  flying  from  the 
plague-stricken  spot,  Mr.  Porcher  Miles  flew  to  it,  visited  the 
hospitals,  tended  the  sick ;  and  although  a  weakly,  delicate 
man.  gave  an  example  of  such  energy  and  courage  as  materi 
ally  tended  to  save  those  who  were  left.  I  never  heard  him 
say  a  word  to  indicate  that  he  had  been  at  Norfolk  at  all. 


126  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

At  the  rear  of  the  cottage-like  residence  (to  the  best  of  ray 
belief  built  of  wood),  in  which  the  planter's  family  lived,  was 
a  small  enclosure,  surrounded  by  a  palisade,  containing  a 
number  of  wooden  sheds,  which  were  the  negro  quarters  ;  and 
after  dinner,  as  we  sat  on  the  steps,  the  children  were  sent  for 
to  sing  for  us.  They  came  very  shyly,  and  by  degrees  ;  first 
peeping  round  the  corners  and  from  behind  trees,  oftentimes 
running  away  in  spite  of  the  orders  of  their  haggard  mammies, 
till  they  were  chased,  captured,  and  brought  back  by  their 
elder  brethren.  They  were  ragged,  dirty,  shoeless  urchins  of 
both  sexes  ;  the  younger  ones  abdominous  as  infant  Hindoos, 
and  wild  as  if  just  caught.  With  much  difficulty  the  elder 
children  were  dressed  into  line  ;  then  they  began  to  shuffle 
their  flat  feet,  to  clap  their  hands,  and  to  drawl  out  in  a  mo 
notonous  sort  of  chant  something  about  the  "  River  Javvdam," 
after  which  Mrs.  Crafts  rewarded  them  with  lumps  of  sugar, 
which  were  as  fruitful  of  disputes  as  the  apple  of  discord.  A 
few  fathers  and  mothers  gazed  at  the  scene  from  a  distance. 

As  we  sat  listening  to  the  wonderful  song  of  the  mocking 
birds,  when  these  young  Sybarites  had  retired,  a  great,  big, 
burly  red-faced  gentleman,  as  like  a  Yorkshire  farmer  in  high 
perfection  as  any  man  I  ever  saw  in  the  old  country,  rode  up 
to  the  door,  and,  after  the  usual  ceremony  of  introduction  and 
the  collating  of  news,  and  the  customary  assurance  "  They 
can't  whip  us,  sir ! "  invited  me  then  and  there  to  attend  a 
fete  champetre  at  his  residence,  where  there  is  a  lawn  famous 
for  trees  dating  from  the  first  settlement  of  the  colony,  and 
planted  by  this  gentleman's  ancestor. 

Trees  are  objects  of  great  veneration  in  America  if  they 
are  of  any  size.  There  are  perhaps  two  reasons  for  this.  In 
the  first  place,  the  indigenous  forest  trees  are  rarely  of  any 
great  magnitude.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  natural  to  Amer 
icans  to  admire  dimension  and  antiquity  ;  and  a  big  tree  grati 
fies  both  organs  —  size  and  veneration. 

I  must  record  an  astonishing  feat  of  this  noble  Carolinian. 
The  heat  of  the  evening  was  indubitably  thirst-compelling, 
and  we  went  in  to  "  have  a  drink."  Among  other  things  on 
the  table  were  a  decanter  of  cognac  and  a  flask  of  white  cura- 
yoa.  The  planter  filled  a  tumbler  half  full  of  brandy.  "What's 
in  that  flat  bottle,  Crafts  ?  "  "  That's  white  curagoa."  The 
planter  tasted  a  little,  and  having  smacked  his  lips  and  ex 
claimed  "  first-rate  stuff,"  proceeded  to  water  his  brandy  with 
it,  and  tossed  off  a  full  brimmer  of  the  mixture  without  any 


EXCURSION  TO  GEORGETOWN.         127 

remarkable  ulterior  results.  They  are  a  hard-beaded  race. 
I  doubt  if  cavalier  or  puritan  ever  drank  a  more  potent  bum 
per  than  our  friend  the  big  planter. 

April  22d.  —  To-day  was  fixed  for  the  visit  to  Mr.  Prin- 
gle's  plantation,  which  lies  above  Georgetown  near  the  Pedee 
River.  Our  party,  which  consisted  of  Mr.  Mitchell,  an  emi 
nent  lawyer  of  Charleston,  Colonel  Reed,  a  neighboring  plan 
ter,  Mr.  Ward,  of  New  York,  our  host,  and  myself,  were  on 
board  the  Georgetown  steamer  at  seven  o'clock,  A.  M.,  and 
started  with  a  quantity  of  commissariat  stores,  ammunition, 
and  the  like,  for  the  use  of  the  troops  quartered  along  the 
coast.  There  was,  of  course,  a  large  supply  of  newspapers 
also.  At  that  early  hour  invitations  to  the  "  bar  "  were  not 
uncommon,  where  the  news  was  discussed  by  long-legged, 
grave,  sallow  men.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  joking  about 
"  old  Abe  Lincoln's  paper  blockade,"  and  the  report  that  the 
Government  had  ordered  their  cruisers  to  treat  the  crews  of 
Confederate  privateers  as  "  pirates "  provoked  derisive  and 
menacing  comments.  The  full  impulses  of  national  life  are 
breathing  through  the  whole  of  this  people.  There  is  their 
flag  flying  over  Sumter,  and  the  Confederate  banner  is  waving 
on  all  the  sand-forts  and  headlands  which  guard  the  approaches 
to  Charleston. 

A  civil  war  and  persecution  have  already  commenced. 
"  Suspected  Abolitionists "  are  ill-treated  in  the  South,  and 
"  Suspected  Secessionists "  are  mobbed  and  beaten  in  the 
North.  The  news  of  the  attack  on  the  6th  Massachusetts,  and 
the  Pennsylvania  regiment,  by  the  mob  in  Baltimore,  has 
been  received  with  great  delight ;  but  some  long-headed  peo 
ple  see  that  it  will  only  expose  Baltimore  and  Maryland  to 
the  full  force  of  the  Northern  States.  The  riot  took  place  on 
the  anniversary  of  Lexington. 

The  "  Nina "  was  soon  in  open  sea,  steering  northwards 
and  keeping  four  miles  from  shore  in  order  to  clear  the  shoals 
and  banks  which  fringe  the  low  sandy  coasts,  and  effectually 
prevent  even  light  gunboats  covering  a  descent  by  their  ord 
nance.  This  was  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  Federal  fleet 
did  not  make  any  attempt  to  relieve  Fort  Sumter  during  the 
engagement.  On  our  way  out  we  could  see  the  holes  made 
in  the  large  hotel  and  other  buildings  on  Sullivan's  Island  be 
hind  Fort  Moultrie,  by  the  shot  from  the  fort,  which  caused 
terror  among  the  negroes  "  miles  away."  There  was  no  sign 
of  any  blockading  vessel,  but  look-out  parties  were  posted 


128  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

along  the  beach,  and  as  the  skipper  said  we  might  have  to 
make  our  return-journey  by  land,  every  sail  on  the  horizon 
was  anxiously  scanned  through  our  glasses. 

Having  passed  the  broad  mouth  of  the  Santee,  the  steamer 
in  three  hours  and  a  half  ran  up  an  estuary,  into  which  the 
Maccamaw  River  and  the  Pedee  River  pour  their  united 
waters. 

Our  vessel  proceeded  along-shore  to  a  small  jetty,  at  the 
end  of  which  was  a  group  of  armed  men,  some  of  them  being 
part  of  a  military  post,  to  defend  the  coast  and  river,  estab 
lished  under  cover  of  an  earthwork  and  palisades  constructed 
with  trunks  of  trees,  and  mounting  three  32-pounders.  Sev 
eral  posts  of  a  similar  character  lay  on  the  river  banks,  and 
from  some  of  these  we  were  boarded  by  men  in  boats  hungry 
for  news  and  newspapers.  Most  of  the  men  at  the  pier  were 
cavalry  troopers,  belonging  to  a  volunteer  association  of  the 
gentry  for  coast  defence,  and  they  had  been  out  night  and  day 
patrolling  the  shores,  and  doing  the  work  of  common  soldiers 
—  very  precious  material  for  such  work.  They  wore  gray 
tunics,  slashed  and  faced  with  yellow,  buff  belts,  slouched  felt 
hats,  ornamented  with  drooping  cocks'  plumes,  and  long  jack 
boots,  which  well  became  their  fine  persons  and  bold  bearing, 
and  were  evidently  due  to  "  Cavalier "  associations.  They 
were  all  equals.  Our  friends  on  board  the  boat  hailed,  them 
by  their  Christian  names,  gave  and  heard  the  news.  Among 
the  cases  landed  at  the  pier  were  certain  of  champagne  and 
pates,  on  which  Captain  Blank  was  wont  to  regale  his  com 
pany  daily  at  his  own  expense,  or  that  of  his  cotton  broker. 
Their  horses  picketed  in  the  shade  of  trees  close  to  the  beach, 
the  parties  of  women  riding  up  and  down  the  sands,  or  driving 
in  light  tax-carts,  suggested  images  of  a  large  picnic,  and  a 
state  of  society  quite  indifferent  to  Uncle  Abe's  cruisers  and 
"  Hessians."  After  a  short  delay  here,  the  steamer  proceeded 
on  her  way  to  Georgetown,  an  ancient  and  once  important  set 
tlement  and  port,  which  was  marked  in  the  distance  by  the 
little  forest  of  masts  rising  above  the  level  land,  and  the  tops 
of  the  trees  beyond,  and  by  a  solitary  church-spire. 

As  the  "  Nina  "  approaches  the  tumble-down  wharf  of  the 
old  town,  two  or  three  citizens  advance  from  the  shade  of 
shaky  sheds  to  welcome  us,  and  a  few  country  vehicles  and 
light  phaetons  are  drawn  forth  from  the  same  shelter  to  re 
ceive  the  passengers,  while  the  negro  boys  and  girls  who  have 
been  playing  upon  the  bales  of  cotton  and  barrels  of  rice, 


THE  PLANTER'S  HOUSE.  129 

which  represent  the  trade  of  the  place  on  the  wharf,  take  up 
commanding  positions  for  the  better  observation  of  our  pro 
ceedings. 

There  is  about  Georgetown  an  air  of  quaint  simplicity  and 
old-fashioned  quiet,  which  contrasts  refreshingly  with  the  bus 
tle  and  tumult  of  American  cities.  While  waiting  for  our 
vehicle  we  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  Colonel  Reed,  who  took 
us  into  an  old-fashioned,  angular,  wooden  mansion,  more  than 
a  century  old,  still  sound  in  every  timber,  and  testifying,  in 
its  quaint  wainscotings,  and  the  rigid  framework  of  door  and 
window,  to  the  durability  of  its  cypress  timbers  and  the  pre 
servative  character  of  the  atmosphere.  In  early  days  it  was 
the  grand  house  of  the  old  settlement,  and  the  residence  of 
the  founder  of  the  female  branch  of  the  family  of  our  host, 
who  now  only  makes  it  his  halting-place  when  passing  to  and 
fro  between  Charleston  and  his  plantation,  leaving  it  the  year 
round  in  charge  of  an  old  servant  and  her  grandchild.  Rose- 
trees  and  flowering  shrubs  clustered  before  the  porch  and  filled 
the  garden  in  front,  and  the  establishment  gave  one  a  good 
idea  of  a  London  merchant's  retreat  about  Chelsea  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago. 

At  length  we  were  ready  for  our  journey,  and,  in  two  light 
covered  gigs,  proceeded  along  the  sandy  track  which,  after  a 
while,  led  us  to  a  road  cut  deep  in  the  bosom  of  the  woods, 
where  silence  was  only  broken  by  the  cry  of  a  woodpecker, 
the  scream  of  a  crane,  or  the  sharp  challenge  of  the  jay.  For 
miles  we  passed  through  the  shades  of  this  forest,  meeting 
only  two  or  three  vehicles  containing  female  planterdom  on 
little  excursions  of  pleasure  or  business,  who  smiled  their  wel 
come  as  we  passed.  Arrived  at  a  deep  chocolate-colored 
stream,  called  Black  River,  full  of  fish  and  alligators,  we  find 
a  flat  large  enough  to  accommodate  vehicles  and  passengers, 
and  propelled  by  two  negroes  pulling  upon  a  stretched  rope, 
in  the  manner  usual  in  the  ferry-boats  in  Switzerland. 

Another  drive  through  a  more  open  country,  and  we  reach 
a  fine  grove  of  pine  and  live-oak,  which  melts  away  into  a 
shrubbery  guarded  by  a  rustic  gateway  :  passing  through  this, 
we  are  brought  by  a  sudden  turn  to  the  planter's  house,  buried 
in  trees,  which  dispute  with  the  green  sward  and  with  wild 
flower-beds  the  space  between  the  hall-door  and  the  waters  of 
the  Pedee ;  and  in  a  few  minutes,  as  we  gaze  over  the  ex 
panse  of  fields  marked  by  the  deep  water-cuts,  and  bounded 
by  a  fringe  of  unceasing  forest,  just  tinged  with  green  by  the 
6* 


130  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

first  life  of  the  early  rice-crops,  the  chimneys  of  the  steamer 
we  had  left  at  Georgetown,  gliding  as  it  were  through  the 
fields,  indicate  the  existence  of  another  navigable  river  still 
beyond. 

Leaving  the  veranda  which  commanded  this  agreeable 
foreground,  we  enter  the  mansion,  and  are  reminded  by  its 
low-browed,  old-fashioned  rooms,  of  the  country  houses  yet  to 
be  found  in  parts  of  Ireland  or  on  the  Scottish  border,  with 
additions,  made  by  the  luxury  and  love  of  foreign  travel,  of 
more  than  one  generation  of  educated  Southern  planters. 
Paintings  from  Italy  illustrate  the  walls,  in  juxtaposition 
with  interesting  portraits  of  early  colonial  governors  and 
their  lovely  womankind,  limned  with  no  uncertain  hand,  and 
full  of  the  vigor  of  touch  and  naturalness  of  drapery,  of 
which  Copley  has  left  us  too  few  exemplars  ;  and  one  por 
trait  of  Benjamin  West  claims  for  itself  such  honor  as  his 
own  pencil  can  give.  An  excellent  library  —  filled  with  col 
lections  of  French  and  English  classics,  and  with  those  pon 
derous  editions  of  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  the  "  Memoires  pour 
Servir,"  books  of  travel  and  history  which  delighted  our  fore 
fathers  in  the  last  century,  and  many  works  of  American  and 
general  history  —  affords  ample  occupation  for  a  rainy  day. 

It  was  five  o'clock  before  we  reached  our  planter's  house  — 
White  House  Plantation.  My  small  luggage  was  carried  into 
my  room  by  an  old  negro  in  livery,  who  took  great  pains  to 
assure  me  of  my  perfect  welcome,  and  who  turned  out  to  be  a 
most  excellent  valet.  A  low  room  hung  with  colored  mezzo 
tints,  windows  covered  with  creepers,  and  an  old-fashioned 
bedstead  and  quaint  chairs,  lodged  me  sumptuously  ;  and  after 
such  toilet  as  was  considered  necessary  by  our  host  for  a 
bachelor's  party,  we  sat  down  to  an  excellent  dinner,  cooked 
by  negroes  and  served  by  negroes,  and  aided  by  claret  mel 
lowed  in  Carolinian  suns,  and  by  Madeira  brought  down  stairs 
cautiously,  as  in  the  days  of  Horace  and  Ma3cenas,  from  the 
cellar  between  the  attic  and  the  thatched  roof. 

Our  party  was  increased  by  a  neighboring  planter,  and 
after  dinner  the  conversation  returned  to  the  old  channel  — 
all  the  frogs  praying  for  a  king  —  anyhow  a  prince  —  to  rule 
over  them.  Our  good  host  is  anxious  to  get  away  to  Europe, 
where  his  wife  and  children  are,  and  all  he  fears  is  being 
mobbed  at  New  York,  where  Southerners  are  exposed  to  in 
sult,  though  they  may  get  off  better  in  that  respect  than  Black 
Republicans  would  down  South.  Some  of  our  guests  talked 


UNHEALTHY   SEASON.  131 

of  the  duello,  and  of  famous  hands  with  the  pistol  in  these 
parts.  The  conversation  had  altogether  very  much  the  tone 
which  would  have  probably  characterized  the  talk  of  a  group 
of  Tory  Irish  gentlemen  over  their  wine  some  sixty  years 
ago,  and  very  pleasant  it  was.  Not  a  man  —  no,  not  one  — 
will  ever  join  the  Union  again!  "Thank  God!"  they  say, 
"  we  are  freed  from  that  tyranny  at  last."  And  yet  Mr.  Sew- 
ard  calls  it  the  most  beneficent  government  in  the  world,  which 
never  hurt  a  human  being  yet ! 

But  alas !  all  the  good  things  which  the  house  affords,  can 
be  enjoyed  but  for  a  brief  season.  Just  as  nature  has  ex 
panded  every  charm,  developed  every  grace,  and  clothed  the 
scene  with  all  the  beauty  of  opened  flower,  of  ripening  grain, 
and  of  mature  vegetation,  on  the  wings  of  the  wind  the  poi 
soned  breath  comes  borne  to  the  home  of  the  white  man,  and 
he  must  fly  before  it  or  perish.  The  books  lie  unopened  on 
the  shelves,  the  flower  blooms  and  dies  unheeded,  and,  pity 
'tis,  'tis  true,  the  old  Madeira  garnered  'neath  the  roof,  settles 
down  for  a  fresh  lease  of  life,  and  sets  about  its  solitary  task 
of  acquiring  a  finer  flavor  for  the  infrequent  lips  of  its  ban 
ished  master  and  his  welcome  visitors.  This  is  the  story,  at 
least,  that  we  hear  on  all  sides,  and  such  is  the  tale  repeated  to 
us  beneath  the  porch,  when  the  moon  while  softening  enhances 
the  loveliness  of  the  scene,  and  the  rich  melody  of  mocking 
birds  fills  the  grove. 

Within  these  hospitable  doors  Horace  might  banquet  better 
than  he  did  with  Nasidienus,  and  drink  such  wine  as  can  be 
only  found  among  the  descendants  of  the  ancestry  who,  improv 
ident  enough  in  all  else,  learnt  the  wisdom  of  bottling  up 
choice  old  Bual  and  Sercial,  ere  the  demon  of  oidium  had  dried 
up  their  generous  sources  forever.  To  these  must  be  added 
excellent  bread,  ingenious  varieties  of  the  (/alette,  compounded 
now  of  rice  and  now  of  Indian  meal,  delicious  butter  and 
fruits,  all  good  of  their  kind.  And  is  there  anything  better 
rising  up  from  the  bottom  of  the  social  bowl  ?  My  black 
friends  who  attend  on  me  are  grave  as  Mussulman  Khit- 
mutgars.  They  are  attired  in  liveries  and  wear  white  cravats 
and  Berlin  gloves.  At  night  when  we  retire,  off  they  go  to 
their  outer  darkness  in  the  small  settlement  of  negro-hood, 
which  is  separated  from  our  house  by  a  wooden  palisade. 
Their  fidelity  is  undoubted.  The  house  breathes  an  air  of 
security.  The  doors  and  windows  are  unlocked.  There  is 
but  one  gun,  a  fowling-piece,  on  the  premises.  No  planter 


132  MY   DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

hereabouts  has  any  dread  of  his  slaves.  But  I  have  seen, 
within  the  short  time  I  have  been  in  this  part  of  the  world, 
several  dreadful  accounts  of  murder  and  violence,  in  which 
masters  suffered  at  the  hands  of  their  slaves.  There  is  some 
thing  suspicious  in  the  constant  never-ending  statement  that 
"  we  are  not  afraid  of  our  slaves."  The  curfew  and  the  night 
patrol  in  the  streets,  the  prisons  and  watch-houses,  and  the 
police  regulations,  prove  that  strict  supervision,  at  all  events, 
is  needed  and  necessary.  My  host  is  a  kind  man  and  a  good 
master.  If  slaves  are  happy  anywhere,  they  should  be  so 
with  him. 

These  people  are  fed  by  their  master.  They  have  half  a 
pound  per  diem  of  fat  pork,  and  corn  in  abundance.  They 
rear  poultry  and  sell  their  chickens  and  eggs  to  the  house. 
They  are  clothed  by  their  master.  He  keeps  them  in  sick 
ness  as  in  health.  Now  and  then  there  are  gifts  of  tobacco 
and  molasses  for  the  deserving.  There  was  little  labor  going 
on  in  the  fields,  for  the  rice  has  been  just  exerting  itself  to  get 
its  head  above  water.  These  fields  yield  plentifully  ;  the  wa 
ters  of  the  river  are  fat,  and  they  are  let  in  whenever  the 
planter  requires  it  by  means  of  floodgates  and  small  canals, 
through  which  the  fiats  can  carry  their  loads  of  grain  to  the 
river  for  loading  the  steamers. 

April  23d.  —  A  lovely  morning  grew  into  a  hot  day. 
After  breakfast,  I  sat  in  the  shade  watching  the  vagaries  of 
some  little  tortoises,  or  terrapins,  in  a  vessel  of  water  close  at 
hand,  or  trying  to  follow  the  bee-like  flight  of  the  humming 
birds.  Ah  me  !  one  wee  brownie,  with  a  purple  head  and  red 
facings,  managed  to  dash  into  a  small  grape  or  flower  conserv 
atory  close  at  hand,  and,  innocent  of  the  ways  of  the  glassy 
wall,  he  or  she  —  lam  much  puzzled  as  to  the  genders  of 
humming-birds,  and  Mr.  Gould,  with  his  wonderful  mastery 
of  Greek  prefixes  and  Latin  terminations,  has  not  aided  me 
much  —  dashed  up  and  down  from  pane  to  pane,  seeking  to 
perforate  each  with  its  bill,  and  carrying  death  and  destruction 
among  the  big  spiders  and  their  cobweb-castles  which  for  the 
time  barred  the  way. 

The  humming-bird  had  as  the  Yankees  say,  a  bad  time  of 
it,  for  its  efforts  to  escape  were  incessant,  and  our  host  said 
tenderly,  through  his  mustaches,  "  Pooty  little  thing,  don't 
frighten  it !  "  as  if  he  was  quite  sure  of  getting  off  to  Saxony 
by  the  next  steamer.  Encumbered  by  cobwebs  and  ex 
hausted,  now  and  then  our  little  friend  toppled  down  among 


HUMMING  BIRDS. —THE  PLANTATION.  133 

the  green  shrubs,  and  lay  panting  like  a  living  nugget  of  ore. 
Again  he,  she,  or  it  took  wing  and  resumed  that  mad  career ; 
but  at  last  on  some  happy  turn  the  bright  head  saw  an  open 
ing  through  the  door,  and  out  wings,  body,  and  legs  dashed, 
and  sought  shelter  in  a  creeper,  where  the  little  flutterer  lay, 
all  but  dead,  so  inanimate,  indeed,  that  I  could  have  taken  the 
lovely  thing  and  put  it  in  the  hollow  of  my  hand.  What 
would  poets  of  Greece  and  Rome  have  said  of  the  humming 
bird  ?  What  would  Hafiz,  or  Waller,  or  Spenser  have  sung, 
had  they  but  seen  that  offspring  of  the  sun  and  flowers  ? 

Later  in  the  day,  when  the  sun  was  a  little  less  fierce,  we 
walked  out  from  the  belt  of  trees  round  the  house  on  the 
plantation  itself.  At  this  time  of  year  there  is  nothing  to 
recommend  to  the  eye  the  great  breadth  of  flat  fields,  sur 
rounded  by  small  canals,  which  look  like  the  bottoms  of  dried- 
up  ponds,  for  the  green  rice  has  barely  succeeded  in  forcing  its 
way  above  the  level  of  the  rich  dark  earth.  The  river  bounds 
the  estate,  and  when  it  rises  after  the  rains,  its  waters,  loaded 
with  loam  and  fertilizing  mud,  are  let  in  upon  the  lands 
through  the  small  canals,  which  are  provided  with  sluices  and 
banks  and  floodgates  to  control  and  regulate  the  supply. 

The  negroes  had  but  little  to  occupy  them  now.  The  chil 
dren  of  both  sexes,  scantily  clad,  were  fishing  in  the  canals  and 
stagnant  waters,  pulling  out  horrible-looking  little  catfish. 
They  were  so  shy  that  they  generally  fled  at  our  approach. 
The  men  and  women  were  apathetic,  neither  seeking  nor  shun 
ning  us,  and  I  found  that  their  master  knew  nothing  about 
them.  It  is  only  the  servants  engaged  in  household  duties 
who  are  at  all  on  familiar  terms  with  their  masters. 

The  bailiff  or  steward  was  not  to  be  seen.  One  big  slouch 
ing  negro,  who  seemed  to  be  a  gangsman  or  something  of  the 
kind,  followed  us  in  our  walk,  and  answered  any  questions  we 
put  to  him  very  readily.  It  was  a  picture  to  see  his  face 
when  one  of  our  party,  on  returning  to  the  house,  gave  him  a 
larger  sum  of  money  than  he  had  probably  ever  possessed 
before  in  a  lump.  "What  will  he  do  with  it?"  Buy  sweet 
things,  —  sugar,  tobacco,  a  penknife,  and  such  things.  "  They 
have  few  luxuries,  and  all  their  wants  are  provided  for." 
Took  a  cursory  glance  at  the  negro  quarters,  which  are  not 
very  enticing  or  cleanly.  They  are  surrounded  by  high  pal 
ings,  and  the  entourage  is  alive  with  their  poultry. 

Very  much  I  doubt  whether  Mr.  Mitchell  is  satisfied  the 
Southerners  are  right  in  their  present  course,  but  he  and  Mr. 


134  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Petigru  are  lawyer?,  and  do  not  take  a  popular  view  of  the 
question.  After  dinner  the  conversation  again  turned  on  the 
resources  and  power  of  the  South,  and  on  the  determination 
of  the  people  never  to  go  back  into  the  Union.  Then  cropped 
out  again  the  expression  of  regret  for  the  rebellion  of  1776, 
and  the  desire  that  if  it  came  to  the  worst,  England  would 
receive  back  her  erring  children,  or  give  them  a  prince  under 
whom  they  could  secure  a  monarchical  form  of  government. 
There  is  no  doubt  about  the  earnestness  with  which  these 
things  are  said. 

As  the  "  Nina  "  starts  down  the  river  on  her  return  voyage 
from  Georgetown  to-night,  and  Charleston  harbor  may  be 
blockaded  at  any  time,  thus  compelling  us  to  make  a  long 
detour  by  land,  I  resolve  to  leave  by  her,  in  spite  of  many 
invitations  and  pressure  from  neighboring  planters.  At  mid 
night  our  carriage  came  round,  and  we  started  in  a  lovely 
moonlight  to  Georgetown,  crossing  the  ferry  after  some  delay, 
in  consequence  of  the  profound  sleep  of  the  boatmen  in  their 
cabins.  One  of  them  said  to  me,  "  Mus'n't  go  too  near  de 
edge  ob  de  boat,  massa."  "  Why  not  ? "  "  Becas  if  massa 
fall  ober,  he  not  come  up  agin  likely,  —  a  bad  ribber  for 
drowned,  massa."  He  informed  me  it  was  full  of  alligators, 
which  are  always  on  the  look-out  for  the  planters'  and  ne 
groes'  dogs,  and  are  hated  and  hunted  accordingly. 

The  "  Nina "  was  blowing  the  signal  for  departure,  the 
only  sound  we  heard  all  through  the  night,  as  we  drove 
through  the  deserted  streets  of  Georgetown,  and  soon  after 
three  o'clock,  A.  M.,  we  were  on  board  and  in  our  berths. 


CHAPTEK  XVIII. 

Climate  of  the  Southern  States  —  General  Beauregard  —  Risks  of  the 
post-office  —  Hatred  of  New  England  —  By  railway  to  Sea  Island 
plantation  —  Sporting  in  South  Carolina  —  An  hour  on  board  a 
canoe  in  the  dark. 

April  24^/j.  —  In  the  morning  we  found  ourselves  in  chop 
ping  little  sea-way  for  which  the  "  Nina  "  was  particularly 
unsuited,  laden  as  she  was  with  provisions  and  produce. 
Eyes  and  glasses  anxiously  straining  seawards  for  any  trace 
of  the  blockading  vessels.  Every  sail  scrutinized,  but  no 
"  stars  and  stripes  "  visible. 

Our  captain  —  a  good  specimen  of  one  of  the  inland-water 
navigators,  shrewd,  intelligent,  and  active,  —  told  me  a  good 
deal  about  the  country.  He  laughed  at  the  fears  of  the  whites 
as  regards  the  climate.  "  Why,  here  am  I,"  said  he,  "  going 
up  the  river,  and  down  the  river  all  times  of  the  year,  and 
at  times  of  day  and  night  when  they  reckon  the  air  is  most 
deadly,  and  I've  done  so  for  years  without  any  bad  effects. 
The  planters  whose  houses  I  pass  all  run  away  in  May,  and 
go  off  to  Europe,  or  to  the  piney  wood,  or  to  the  springs,  or 
they  think  they'd  all  die.  There's  Captain  Buck,  who  lives 
above  here,  —  he  comes  from  the  State  of  Maine.  He  had 
only  a  thousand  dollars  to  begin  with,  but  he  sets  to  work  and 
gets  land  on  the  Maccamaw  River  at  twenty  cents  an  acre.  It 
was  death  to  go  nigh  it,  but  it  was  first-rate  rice  land,  and 
Captain  Buck  is  now  worth  a  million  of  dollars.  He  lives 
on  his  estate  all  the  year  round,  and  is  as  healthy  a  man  as 
ever  you  seen." 

To  such  historiettes  my  planting  friends  turn  a  deaf  ear. 
"  I  tell  you  what,"  said  Pringle,  "just  to  show  you  what  kind 
our  climate  is.  I  had  an  excellent  overseer  once,  who  would 
insist  on  staying  near  the  river,  and  wouldn't  go  away.  He 
fought  against  it  for  more  than  five-and-twenty  years,  but  he 
went  down  with  fever  at  last."  As  the  overseer  was  more 
than  thirty  years  of  age  when  he  came  to  the  estate,  he  had 


136  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

not  been  cut  off  so  very  suddenly.  I  thought  of  the  quack's 
advertisement  of  the  "  bad  leg  of  sixty  years'  standing."  The 
captain  says  the  negroes  on  the  river  plantations  are  very 
well  off.  He  can  buy  enough  of  pork  from  the  slaves  on  one 
plantation  to  last  his  ship's  crew  for  the  whole  winter.  The 
money  goes  to  them,  as  the  hogs  are  their  own.  One  of  the 
stewards  on  board  had  bought  himself  and  his  family  out  of 
bondage  with  his  earnings.  The  State  in  general,  however, 
does  not  approve  of  such  practices. 

At  three  o'clock,  P.  M.,  ran  into  Charleston  harbor,  and 
landed  soon  afterwards. 

I  saw  General  Beauregard  in  the  evening :  he  was  very 
lively  and  in  good  spirits,  though  he  admitted  he  was  rather 
surprised  by  the  spirit  displayed  in  the  North.  "A  good 
deal  of  it  is  got  up,  however,"  he  said,  "  and  belongs  to  that 
washy  sort  of  enthusiasm  which  is  promoted  by  their  lec 
turing  and  spouting."  Beauregard  is  very  proud  of  his  per 
sonal  strength,  which  for  his  slight  frame  is  said  to  be  very 
extraordinary,  and  he  seemed  to  insist  on  it  that  the  Southern 
men  had  more  physical  strength,  owing  to  their  mode  of  life 
and  their  education,  than  their  Northern  "  brethren."  In  the 
evening  held  a  sort  of  tabaks  consilium  in  the  hotel,  where  a 
number  of  officers  —  Manning,  Lucas,  Chestnut,  Calhoun,  &c., 
—  discoursed  of  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  All  my  friends, 
except  Trescot,  I  think  were  elated  at  the  prospect  of  hostili 
ties  with  the  North,  and  overjoyed  that  a  South  Carolina  reg 
iment  had  already  set  out  for  the  frontiers  of  Virginia. 

April  25th.  —  Sent  off  my  letters  by  an  English  gentleman, 
who  was  taking  despatches  from  Mr.  Bunch  to  Lord  Lyons,  as 
the  post-office  is  becoming  a  dangerous  institution.  We  hear 
of  letters  being  tampered  with  on  both  sides.  Adams's  Ex 
press  Company,  which  acts  as  a  sort  of  express  post  under 
certain  conditions,  is  more  trustworthy ;  but  it  is  doubtful  how 
long  communications  will  be  permitted  to  exist  between  the 
two  hostile  nations,  as  they  may  now  be  considered. 

Dined  with  Mr.  Petigru,  who  had  most  kindly  postponed 
his  dinner  party  till  my  return  from  the  plantations,  and  met 
there  General  Beauregard,  Judge  King,  and  others,  among 
whom,  distinguished  for  their  esprit  and  accomplishments,  were 
Mrs.  King  and  Mrs.  Carson,  daughters  of  my  host.  The  dis 
like,  which  seems  innate,  to  New  England  is  universal,  and 
varies  only  in  the  form  of  its  expression.  It  is  quite  true  Mr. 
Petigru  is  a  decided  Unionist,  but  he  is  the  sole  specimen  of 


BETWEEN  CHARLESTON  AND  SAVANNAH.  137 

the  genus  in  Charleston,  and  he  is  tolerated  on  account  of  his 
rarity.  As  the  witty,  pleasant  old  man  trots  down  the  street, 
utterly  unconscious  of  the  world  around  him,  he  is  pointed  out 
proudly  by  the  Carolinians  as  an  instance  of  forbearance  on 
their  part,  and  as  a  proof,  at  the  same  time,  of  popular  unan 
imity  of  sentiment. 

There  are  also  people  who  regret  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union  —  such  as  Mr.  Huger,  who  shed  tears  in  talking  of  it 
the  other  night ;  but  they  regard  the  fact  very  much  as  they 
would  the  demolition  of  some  article  which  never  can  be  re 
stored  and  reunited,  which  was  valued  for  the  uses  it  rendered 
and  its  antiquity. 

General  Beau  regard  is  apprehensive  of  an  attack  by  the 
Northern  "  fanatics  "  before  the  South  is  prepared,  and  he  con 
siders  they  will  carry  out  coercive  measures  most  rigorously. 
He  dreads  the  cutting  of  the  levees,  or  high  artificial  works, 
raised  along  the  whole  course  of  the  Mississippi,  for  many 
hundreds  of  miles  above  New  Orleans,  which  the  Federals 
may  resort  to  in  order  to  drown  the  plantations  and  ruin  the 
planters. 

We  had  a  good-humored  argument  in  the  evening  about  the 
ethics  of  burning  the  Norfolk  navy  yard.  The  Southerners 
consider  the  appropriation  of  the  arms,  moneys,  and  stores  of 
the  United  States  as  rightful  acts,  inasmuch  as  they  represent, 
according  to  them,  their  contribution,  or  a  portion  of  it,  to  the 
national  stock  in  trade.  When  a  State  goes  out  of  the  Union 
she  should  be  permitted  to  carry  her  forts,  armaments,  arse 
nals,  &c.,  along  with  her,  and  it  was  a  burning  shame  for  the 
Yankees  to  destroy  the  property  of  Virginia  at  Norfolk.  These 
ideas,  and  many  like  them,  have  the  merit  of  novelty  to  Eng 
lish  people,  who  were  accustomed  to  think  there  were  such 
things  as  the  Union  and  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

April  2Qth.  —  Bade  good-by  to  Charleston  at  9*45  A.  M.,  this 
day,  and  proceeded  by  railway,  in  company  with  Mr.  Ward, 
to  visit  Mr.  Trescot's  Sea  Island  Plantation.  Crossed  the 
river  to  the  terminus  in  a  ferry  steamer.  No  blockading  ves 
sels  in  sight  yet.  The  water  alive  with  small  silvery  fish,  like 
mullet,  which  sprang  up  and  leaped  along  the  surface  inces 
santly.  An  old  gentleman,  who  was  fishing  on  the  pier,  com 
bined  the  pursuit  of  sport  with  instruction  very  ingeniously  by 
means  of  a  fork  of  bamboo  in  his  rod,  just  above  the  reel,  into 
which  he  stuck  his  inevitable  newspaper,  and  read  gravely  in 
his  cane-bottomed  chair  till  he  had  a  bite,  when  the  fork  was 


138  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

unhitched  and  the  fish  was  landed.  The  negroes  are  very 
much  addicted  to  the  contemplative  man's  recreation,  and  they 
were  fishing  in  all  directions. 

On  the  move  again.  Took  our  places  in  the  Charleston 
and  Savannah  Railway  for  Pocotaligo,  which  is  the  station 
for  Barnwell  Island.  Our  fellow-passengers  were  all  full  of 
politics  —  the  pretty  women  being  the  fiercest  of  all  —  no ! 
the  least  good-looking  were  the  most  bitterly  patriotic,  as  if 
they  hoped  to  talk  themselves  into  husbands  by  the  most  un- 
femiriine  expressions  towards  the  Yankees. 

The  country  is  a  dead  flat,  perforated  by  rivers  and  water 
courses,  over  which  the  rail  is  carried  on  long  and  lofty  tres 
tle-work.  But  for  the  fine  trees,  the  magnolias  and  live-oak, 
the  landscape  would  be  unbearably  hideous,  for  there  are  none 
of  the  quaint,  cleanly,  delightful  villages  of  Holland  to  relieve 
the  monotonous  level  of  rice  swamps  and  wastes  of  land  and 
water  and  mud.  At  the  humble  little  stations  there  were  in 
variably  groups  of  horsemen  waiting  under  the  trees,  and  ladies 
with  their  black  nurses  and  servants  who  had  driven  over  in 
the  odd-looking  old-fashioned  vehicles,  which  were  drawn  up 
in  the  shade.  Those  who  were  going  on  a  long  journey, 
aware  of  the  utter  barrenness  of  the  land,  took  with  them  a 
viaticum  and  bottles  of  milk.  The  nurses  and  slaves  squatted 
down  by  their  side  in  the  train,  on  perfectly  well-understood 
terms.  No  one  objected  to  their  presence  —  on  the  contrary, 
the  passengers  treated  them  with  a  certain  sort  of  speciaj  con 
sideration,  and  they  were  on  the  happiest  terms  with  their 
charges,  some  of  which  were  in  the  absorbent  condition  of  life, 
and  dived  their  little  white  faces  against  the  tawny  bosom  of 
their  nurses  with  anything  but  reluctance. 

The  train  stopped,  at  12-20,  at  Pocotaligo;  and  there  we 
found  Mr.  Trescot  and  a  couple  of  neighboring  planters,  fa 
mous  as  fishers  for  "drum,"  of  which  more  by  and  by.  I 
had  met  old  Mr.  Elliot  in  Charleston,  and  his  account  of  this 
sport,  and  of  the  pursuit  of  an  enormous  sea  monster  called 
the  devil-fish,  which  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  kill  in  these 
waters,  excited  my  curiosity  very  much.  Mr.  Elliot  has  writ 
ten  a  most  agreeable  account  of  the  sports  of  South  Carolina, 
and  I  had  hoped  he  would  have  been  well  enough  to  have 
been  my  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend  in  drum-fishing  in 
Port  Royal ;  but  he  sent  over  his  son  to  say  that  he  was  too 
unwell  to  come,  and  had  therefore  despatched  most  excellent 
representatives  in  two  members  of  his  family.  It  was  ar- 


RAIN-CROWS  AND  SNAKE-HAWKS.  139 

ranged  that  they  should  row  down  from  their  place  and  meet 
us  to-morrow  morning  at  Trescot's  Island,  which  lies  above 
Beaufort,  in  Port  Royal  Sound  and  River. 

Got  into  Trescot's  gig,  and  plunged  into  a  shady  lane  with 
wood  on  each  side,  through  which  we  drove  for  some  distance. 
The  country,  on  each  side  and  beyond,  perfectly  flat  —  all 
rice  lands  —  few  houses  visible — scarcely  a  human  being  on 
the  road  —  drove  six  or  seven  miles  without  meeting  a  soul. 
After  a  couple  of  hours  or  so,  I  should  think,  the  gig  turned 
up  by  an  open  gateway  on  a  path  or  road  made  through  a 
waste  of  rich  black  mud,  "  glorious  for  rice,"  and  landed  us  at 
the  door  of  a  planter,  Mr.  Heyward,  who  came  out  and  gave 
us  a  most  hearty  welcome,  in  the  true  Southern  style.  His 
house  is  charming,  surrounded  with  trees,  and  covered  with 
roses  and  creepers,  through  which  birds  and  butterflies  are 
flying.  Mr.  Heyward  took  it  as  a  matter  of  course  that  we 
stopped  to  dinner,  which  we  were  by  no  means  disinclined  to 
do,  as  the  day  was  hot,  the  road  was  dusty,  and  his  reception 
frank  and  kindly.  A  fine  specimen  of  the  planter  man  ;  and, 
minus  his  broad-brimmed  straw  hat  and  loose  clothing,  not  a 
bad  representative  of  an  English  squire  at  home. 

Whilst  we  were  sitting  in  the  porch,  a  strange  sort  of  boom 
ing  noise  attracted  my  attention  in  one  of  the  trees.  "  It  is  a 
rain-crow,"  said  Mr.  Heyward  ;  "  a  bird  which  we  believe  to 
foretell  rain.  I'll  shoot  it  for  you."  And,  going  into  the  hall, 
he  took  down  a  double-barrelled  fowling-piece,  walked  out,  and 
fired  into  the  tree  ;  whence  the  rain-crow,  poor  creature,  fell 
fluttering  to  the  ground  and  died.  It  seemed  to  me  a  kind  of 
cuckoo — the  same  size,  but  of  darker  plumage.  I  could 
gather  no  facts  to  account  for  the  impression  that  its  call  is  a 
token  of  rain. 

My  attention  was  also  called  to  a  curious  kind  of  snake- 
killing  hawk,  or  falcon,  which  makes  an  extraordinary  noise 
by  putting  its  wings  point  upwards,  close  together,  above  its 
back,  so  as  to  offer  no  resistance  to  the  air,  and  then,  begin 
ning  to  descend  from  a  great  height,  with  fast-increasing  rapid 
ity,  makes,  by  its  rushing  through  the  air,  a  strange  loud  hum, 
till  it  is  near  the  ground,  when  the  bird  stops  its  downward 
swoop  and  flies  in  a  curve  over  the  meadow.  This  I  saw  two 
of  these  birds  doing  repeatedly  to-night. 

After  dinner,  at  which  Mr.  Heyward  expressed  some  alarm 
lest  Secession  would  deprive  the  Southern  States  of  "  ice,"  we 
continued  our  journey  towards  the  river.  There  is  still  a  re- 


140  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

markable  absence  of  population  or  life  along  the  road,  and 
even  the  houses  are  either  hidden  or  lie  too  far  off  to  be  seen. 
The  trees  are  much  admired  by  the  people,  though  they  would 
not  be  thought  much  of  in  England. 

At  length,  towards  sundown,  having  taken  to  a  track  by  a 
forest,  part  of  which  was  burning,  we  came  to  a  broad  muddy 
river,  with  steep  clay  banks.  A  canoe  was  lying  in  a  little 
harbor  formed  by  a  slope  in  the  bank,  and  four  stout  negroes, 
who  were  seated  round  a  burning  log,  engaged  in  smoking  and 
eating  oysters,  rose  as  we  approached,  and  helped  the  party 
into  the  "dug-out,"  or  canoe,  a  narrow,  long,  and  heavy  boat, 
with  wall  sides  and  a  flat  floor.  A  row  of  one  hour,  the  latter 
part  of  it  in  darkness,  took  us  to  the  verge  of  Mr.  Trescot's 
estate,  Barn  well  Island ;  and  the  oarsmen,  as  they  bent  to 
their  task,  beguiled  the  way  by  singing  in  unison  a  real  negro 
melody,  which  was  as  unlike  the  works  of  the  Ethiopian  Ser- 
enaders  as  anything  in  song  could  be  unlike  another.  It  was 
a  barbaric  sort  of  madrigal,  in  which  one  singer  beginning 
was  followed  by  the  others  in  unison,  repeating  the  refrain  in 
chorus,  and  full  of  quaint  expression  and  melancholy  :  — 

"  Oh,  your  soul !  oh,  ray  soul !  I'm  going  to  the  churchyard  to  lay 

this  body  down ; 

Oh,  my  soul !  oh,  your  soul !  we're  going  to  the  churchyard 
to  lay  this  nigger  down." 

And  then  some  appeal  to  the  difficulty  of  passing  "  the  Jaw- 
dam,"  constitute^  the  whole  of  the  song,  which  continued  with 
unabated  energy  through  the  whole  of  the  little  voyage.  To 
me  it  was  a  strange  scene.  The  stream,  dark  as  Lethe,  flow 
ing  between  the  silent,  houseless,  rugged  banks,  lighted  up 
near  the  landing  by  the  fire  in  the  woods,  which  reddened  the 
sky  —  the  wild  strain,  and  the  unearthly  adjurations  to  the 
singers'  souls,  as  though  they  were  palpable,  put  me  in  mind 
of  the  fancied  voyage  across  the  Styx. 

"  Here  we  are  at  last."  All  I  could  see  was  a  dark  shadow 
of  trees  and  the  tops  of  rushes  by  the  river  side.  "  Mind 
where  you  step,  and  follow  me  close."  And  so,  groping  along 
through  a  thick  shrubbery  for  a  short  space,  I  came  out  on  a 
garden  and  enclosure,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  white  outlines 
of  a  house  were  visible.  Lights  in  the  drawing-room  —  a 
lady  to  receive  and  welcome  us  —  a  snug  library  —  tea,  and 
to  bed :  but  not  without  more  talk  about  the  Southern  Con 
federacy,  in  which  Mrs.  Trescot  explained  how  easily  she 
could  feed  an  army,  from  her  experience  in  feeding  her  ne 
groes. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Domestic  negroes — Negro  oarsmen  —  Off  to  the  fishing  grounds  — 
The  devil-fish  —  Bad  sport  —  The  drum-fish—Negro  quarters  — 
Want  of  drainage  —  Thievish  propensities  of  the  blacks  —  A 
Southern  estimate  of  Southerners. 

April  27th.  —  Mrs.  Trescot,  it  seems,  spent  part  of  her 
night  in  attendance  on  a  young  gentleman  of  color,  who  was 
introduced  into  the  world  in  a  state  of  servitude  by  his  poor 
chattel  of  a  mother.  Such  kindly  acts  as  these  are  more 
common  than  we  may  suppose ;  and  it  would  be  unfair  to  put 
a  strict  or  unfair  construction  on  the  motives  of  slave  owners 
in  paying  such  attention  to  their  property.  Indeed,  as  Mrs. 
Trescot  says,  "  When  people  talk  of  my  having  so  many 
slaves,  I  always  tell  them  it  is  the  slaves  who  own  me.  Morn 
ing,  noon,  and  night,  I'm  obliged  to  look  after  them,  to  doctor 
them,  and  attend  to  them  in  every  way."  Property  has  its 
duties,  you  see,  madam,  as  well  as  its  rights. 

The  planter's  house  is  quite  new,  and  was  built  by  himself; 
the  principal  material  being  wood,  and  most  of  the  work  being 
done  by  his  own  negroes.  Such  work  as  window-sashes  and 
panellings,  however,  was  executed  in  Charleston.  A  pretty 
garden  runs  at  the  back,  and  from  the  windows  there  are 
wide  stretches  of  cotton-fields  visible,  and  glimpses  of  the 
river  to  be  seen. 

After  breakfast  our  little  party  repaired  to  the  river  side, 
and  sat  under  the  shade  of  some  noble  trees  waiting  for  the 
boat  which  was  to  bear  us  to  the  fishing  grounds.  The  wind 
blew  up  stream,  running  with  the  tide,  and  we  strained  our 
eyes  in  vain  for  the  boat.  The  river  is  here  nearly  a  mile 
across,  —  a  noble  estuary  rather,  —  with  low  banks  lined  with 
forests,  into  which  the  axe  has  made  deep  forays  and  clearings 
for  cotton-fields. 

It  would  have  astonished  a  stray  English  traveller,  if,  pen 
etrating  the  shade,  he  heard  in  such  an  out-of-the-way  place 
familiar  names  and  things  spoken  of  by  the  three  lazy  persons 


142  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

who  were  stretched  out  —  cigar  in  mouth  —  on  the  ant-haunt 
ed  trunks  which  lay  prostrate  by  the  seashore.  Mr.  Trescot 
spent  some  time  in  London  as  attache  to  the  United  States 
Legation,  was  a  club  man,  and  had  a  large  circle  of  acquaint 
ance  among  the  young  men  about  town,  of  whom  he  remem 
bered  many  anecdotes  and  peculiarities,  and  little  adventures. 
Since  that  time  he  was  Under- Secretary  of  State  in  Mr. 
Buchanan's  administration,  and  went  out  with  Secession.  He 
is  the  author  of  a  very  agreeable  book  on  a  dry  subject,  "  The 
History  of  American  Diplomacy,"  which  is  curious  enough  as 
an  unconscious  exposition  of  the  anti-British  jealousies,  and 
even  antipathies,  which  have  animated  American  .statesmen 
since  they  were  created.  In  fact,  much  of  American  diplo 
macy  means  hostility  to  England,  and  the  skilful  employment 
of  the  anti-British  sentiment  at  their  disposal  in  their  own 
country  and  elsewhere.  Now  he  was  talking  pleasantly  of 
people  he  had  met —  many  of  them  mutual  friends. 

"  Here  is  the  boat  at  last ! "  I  had  been  sweeping  the 
broad  river  with  my  glass  occasionally,  and  at  length  detected 
a  speck  on  its  broad  surface  moving  down  towards  us,  with  a 
white  dot  marking  the  foam  at  its  bows.  Spite  of  wind  and 
tideway,  it  came  rapidly,  and  soon  approached  us,  pulled  by 
six  powerful  negroes,  attired  in  red-flannel  jackets  and  white 
straw  hats  with  broad  ribbons.  The  craft  itself —  a  kind  ot 
monster  canoe,  some  forty-five  feet  long,  narrow,  wall-sided, 
with  high  bow  and  raised  stern  —  lay  deep  in  the  water,  for 
there  were  extra  negroes  for  the  fishing,  servants,  baskets  of 
provisions,  water  buckets,  stone  jars  of  less  innocent  drinking, 
and  abaft  there  was  a  knot  of  great  strong  planters,  —  Elliots 
all  —  cousins,  uncles,  and  brothers.  A  friendly  hail  as  they 
swept  up  along-side,  —  an  exchange  of  salutations. 

"  Well,  Trescot,  have  you  got  plenty  of  Crabs  ?  " 

A  groan  burst  forth  at  his  insouciant  reply.  He  had  been 
charged  to  find  bait,  and  he  had  told  the  negroes  to  do  so,  and 
the  negroes  had  not  done  so.  The  fishermen  looked  grievous 
ly  at  each  other,  and  fiercely  at  Trescot,  who  assumed  an  air 
of  recklessness,  and  threw  doubts  on  the  existence  of  fish  in 
the  river,  and  resorted  to  similar  miserable  subterfuges ;  in 
deed,  it  was  subsequently  discovered  that  he  was  an  utter 
infidel  in  regard  to  the  delights  of  piscicapture. 

"  Now,  all  aboard !  Over,  you  fellows,  and  take  these 
gentlemen  in  ! "  The  negroes  were  over  in  a  moment,  waist 
deep,  and,  each  taking  one  on  his  back,  deposited  us  dry  in 


DEVIL-FISH.  143 

the  boat.  I  only  mention  this  to  record  the  fact,  that  I  was 
much  impressed  by  a  practical  demonstration  from  my  bearer 
respecting  the  strong  odor  of  the  skin  of  a  heated  African.  I 
have  been  wedged  up  in  a  column  of  infantry  on  a  hot  day, 
and  have  marched  to  leeward  of  Ghoorkhas  in  India,  but  the 
overpowering  pungent  smell  of  the  negro  exceeds  everything 
of  the  kind  I  have  been  unfortunate  enough  to  experience. 

The  vessel  was  soon  moving  again,  against  a  ripple,  caused 
by  the  wind,  which  blew  dead  against  us  ;  and,  notwithstand 
ing  the  praises  bestowed  on  the  boat,  it  was  easy  to  perceive 
that  the  labor  of  pulling  such  a  dead-log-like  thing  through 
the  water  told  severely  on  the  rowers,  who  had  already  come 
some  twelve  miles,  I  think.  Nevertheless,  they  were  told  to 
sing,  and  they  began  accordingly  one  of  those  wild  Baptist 
chants  about  the  Jordan  in  which  they  delight,  —  not  destitute 
of  music,  but  utterly  unlike  what  is  called  an  Ethiopian  mel 
ody. 

The  banks  of  the  river  on  both  sides  are  low ;  on  the  left 
covered  with  wood,  through  which,  here  and  there,  at  inter 
vals,  one  could  see  a  planter's  or  overseer's  cottage.  The 
course  of  this  great  combination  of  salt  and  fresh  water  some 
times  changes,  so  that  houses  are  swept  away  and  plantations 
submerged ;  but  the  land  is  much  valued  nevertheless,  on 
account  of  the  fineness  of  the  cotton  grown  among  the  islands. 
"  Cotton  at  twelve  cents  a  pound,  and  we  don't  fear  the 
world." 

As  the  boat  was  going  to  the  fishing  ground,  which  lay 
towards  the  mouth  of  the  river  at  Hilton  Head,  our  friends 
talked  politics  and  sporting  combined,  —  the  first  of  the  usual 
character,  the  second  quite  new. 

I  heard  much  of  the  mighty  devil-fish  which  frequents 
these  waters.  One  of  our  party,  Mr.  Elliot,  sen.,  a  tall, 
knotty,  gnarled  sort  of  man,  with  a  mellow  eye  and  a  hearty 
voice,  was  a  famous  hand  at  the  sport,  and  had  had  some 
hair-breadth  escapes  in  pursuit  of  it.  The  fish  is  described 
as  of  enormous  size  and  strength,  a  monster  ray,  which  pos 
sesses  formidable  antennae-like  horns,  and  a  pair  of  huge  fins, 
or  flappers,  one  of  which  rises  above  the  water  as  the  creature 
moves  below  the  surface.  The  hunters,  as  they  may  be  call 
ed,  go  out  in  parties,  —  three  or  four  boats,  or  more,  with 
good  store  of  sharp  harpoons  and  tow-lines,  and  lances.  When 
they  perceive  the  creature,  one  boat  takes  the  lead,  and 
moves  down  towards  it,  the  others  following,  each  with  a 


144  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

harpooner  standing  in  the  bow.  The  devil-fish  sometimes  is 
wary,  and  dives,  when  it  sees  a  boat,  taking  such  a  long  spell 
below  that  it  is  never  seen  again.  At  other  times,  however, 
it  backs,  and  lets  the  boat  come  so  near  as  to  allow  of  the 
harpooner  striking  it,  or  it  dives  for  a  short  way  and  comes 
up  near  the  boats  again.  The  moment  the  harpoon  is  fixed, 
the  line  is  paid  out  by  the  rush  of  the  creature,  which  is 
made  with  tremendous  force,  and  all  the  boats  at  once  hurry 
up,  so  that  one  after  another  they  are  made  fast  to  that  in 
which  the  lucky  sportsman  is  seated.  At  length,  when  the 
line  is  run  out,  checked  from  time  to  time  as  much  as  can  be 
done  with  safety,  the  crew  take  their  oars  and  follow  the 
course  of  the  ray,  which  swims  so  fast,  however,  that  it  keeps 
the  line  taut,  and  drags  the  whole  flotilla  seawards.  It  de 
pends  on  its  size  and  strength  to  determine  how  soon  it  rises 
to  the  surface ;  by  degrees  the  line  is  warped  in  and  hove 
short  till  the  boats  are  brought  near,  and  when  the  ray  comes 
up  it  is  attacked  with  a  shower  of  lances  and  harpoons,  and 
dragged  off  into  shoal  water  to  die. 

On  one  occasion,  our  Nimrod  told  us,  he  was  standing  in 
the  bows  of  the  boat,  harpoon  in  hand,  when  a  devil-fish  came 
up  close  to  him ;  he  threw  the  harpoon,  struck  it,  but  at  the 
same  time  the  boat  ran  against  the  creature  with  a  shock 
which  threw  him  right  forward  on  its  back,  and  in  an  instant 
it  caught  him  in  its  horrid  arms  and  plunged  down  with  him 
to  the  depths.  Imagine  the  horror  of  the  moment !  Imagine 
the  joy  of  the  terrified  drowning,  dying  man,  when,  for  some 
inscrutable  reason,  the  devil-fish  relaxed  its  grip,  and  enabled 
him  to  strike  for  the  surface,  where  he  was  dragged  into 
the  boat  more  dead  than  alive  by  his  terror-smitten  compan 
ions,  —  the  only  man  who  ever  got  out  of  the  embraces  of 
the  thing  alive.  "  Tom  is  so  tough  that  even  a  devil-fish 
could  make  nothing  out  of  him." 

At  last  we  came  to  our  fishing  ground.  There  was  a  sub 
stitute  found  for  the  favorite  crab,  and  it  was  fondly  hoped  our 
toils  might  be  rewarded  with  success.  And  these  were  toils, 
for  the  water  is  deep  and  the  lines  heavy.  But  to  alleviate 
them,  some  hampers  were  produced  from  the  stern,  and  won 
derful  pies  from  Mrs.  Trescot's  hands,  and  from  those  of  fair 
ladies  up  the  river  whom  we  shall  never  see,  were  spread  out, 
and  bottles  which  represented  distant  cellars  in  friendly  nooks 
far  away.  "  No  drum  here !  Up  anchor,  and  pull  away  a 
few  miles  lower  down."  Trescot  shook  his  head,  and  again 


DRUM-FISH.  145 

asserted  his  disbelief  in  fishing,  or  rather  in  catching,  and  in 
deed  made  a  sort  of  pretence  at  arguing  that  it  was  wiser  to 
remain  quiet  and  talk  philosophical  politics ;  but,  as  judge  of 
appeal,  I  gave  it  against  him,  and  the  negroes  bent  to  their 
oars,  and  we  went  thumping  through  the  spray,  till,  rounding 
a  point  of  land,  we  saw  pitched  on  the  sandy  shore  ahead  of 
us,  on  the  right  bank,  a  tent,  and  close  by  two  boats.  "  There 
is  a  party  at  it !  "  A  fire  was  burning  on  the  beach,  and  as  we 
came  near,  Tom  and  Jack  and  Harry  were  successfully  identi 
fied.  "  There's  no  take  on,  or  they  would  not  be  on  shore. 
This  is  very  unfortunate." 

All  the  regret  of  my  friends  was  on  my  account,  so  to  ease 
their  minds  I  assured  them  I  did  not  mind  the  disappointment 
much.  "  Hallo  Dick !  Caught  any  drum  ?  "  "A  few  this 
morning  ;  bad  sport  now,  and  will  be  till  tide  turns  again." 
I  was  introduced  to  all  the  party  from  a  distance,  and  present 
ly  I  saw  one  of  them  raising  from  a  boat  something  in  look 
and  shape  and  color  like  a  sack  of  flour,  which  he  gave  to  a 
negro,  who  proceeded  to  carry  it  towards  us  in  a  little  skiff. 
"  Thank  you,  Charley.  I  just  want  to  let  Mr.  Russell  see  a 
drum-fish."  And  a  very  odd  fish  it  was,  —  a  thick  lumpish 
form,  about  four  and  a  half  feet  long,  with  enormous  head  and 
scales,  and  teeth  like  the  grinders  of  a  ruminant  animal,  acting 
on  a  great  pad  of  bone  in  the  roof  of  the  mouth,  —  a  very  un 
lovely  thing,  swollen  with  roe,  which  is  the  great  delicacy. 

"  No  chance  till  the  tide  turned,"  —  but  that  would  be  too 
late  for  our  return,  and  so  unwillingly  we  were  compelled  to 
steer  towards  home,  hearing  now  and  then  the  singular  noise 
like  the  tap  on  a  large  unbraced  drum,  from  which  the  fish 
takes  its  name.  At  first,  when  I  heard  it,  I  was  inclined  to 
think  it  was  made  by  some  one  in  the  boat,  so  near  and  close 
did  it  sound ;  but  soon  it  came  from  all  sides  of  us,  and  evi 
dently  from  the  depths  of  the  water  beneath  us,  —  not  a  sharp 
rat-tat-tap,  but  a  full  muffled  blow  with  a  heavy  thud  on  the 
sheepskin.  Mr.  Trescot  told  me  that  on  a  still  evening  by  the 
river  side  the  effect  sometimes  is  most  curious,  —  the  rolling 
and  pattering  is  audible  at  a  great  distance.  Our  friends  were 
in  excellent  humor  with  everything  and  everybody,  except  the 
Yankees,  though  they  had  caught  no  fish,  and  kept  the  negroes 
at  singing  and  rowing  till  at  nightfall  we  landed  at  the  island, 
and  so  to  bed  after  supper  and  a  little  conversationj  in  which 
Mrs.  Trescot  again  explained  how  easily  she  could  maintain 
a  battalion  on  the  island  by  her  simple  commissariat,  already 
7 


146  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

adapted  to  the  niggers,  and  that  it  would  therefore  be  very 
easy  for  the  South  to  feed  an  army,  if  the  people  were 
friendly. 

April  2Sth.  —  The  church  is  a  long  way  off,  only  available 
by  a  boat  and  then  a  drive  in  a  carriage.  In  the  morning  a 
child  brings  in  my  water  and  boots  —  an  intelligent,  curly- 
headed  creature,  dressed  in  a  sort  of  sack,  without  any  par 
ticular  waist,  barefooted.  I  imagined  it  was  a  boy  till  it  told 
mp  it  was  a  girl.  I  asked  if  she  was  going  to  church,  which 
seemed  to  puzzle  her  exceedingly ;  but  she  told  me  finally  she 
would  hear  prayers  from  "  uncle "  in  one  of  the  cottages. 
This  use  of  the  words  "  uncle "  and  "  aunt "  for  old  people 
is  very  general.  Is  it  because  they  have  no  fathers  and 
mothers?  In  the  course  of  the  day,  the  child,  who  was  four 
teen  or  fifteen  years  of  age,  asked  me  "  whether  I  would  not 
buy  her.  She  could  wash  and  sew  very  well,  and  she  thought 
missus  wouldn't  want  much  for  her."  The  object  she  had  in 
view  leaked  out  at  last.  It  was  a  desire  to  see  the  glories 
of  Beaufort,  of  which  she  had  heard  from  the  fishermen  ;  and 
she  seemed  quite  wonderstruck  when  she  was  informed  I  did 
not  live  there,  and  had  never  seen  it.  She  had  never  been 
outside  the  plantation  in  her  life. 

After  breakfast  we  loitered  about  the  grounds,  strolling 
through  the  cotton-fields,  which  had  as  yet  put  forth  no  bloom 
or  flower,  and  coming  down  others  to  the  thick  fringes  of 
wood  and  sedge  bordering  the  marshy  banks  of  the  island. 
The  silence  was  profound,  broken  only  by  the  husky  mid-day 
crowing  of  the  cocks  in  the  negro  quarters. 

In  the  afternoon  I  took  a  short  drive  "  to  see  a  tree,"  which 
was  not  very  remarkable,  and  looked  in  at  the  negro  quarters 
and  the  cotton-mill.  The  old  negroes  were  mostly  indoors, 
and  came  shambling  out  to  the  doors  of  their  wooden  cottages, 
making  clumsy  bows  at  our  approach,  but  not  expressing  any 
interest  or  pleasure  at  the  sight  of  their  master  and  the  strang 
ers.  They  were  shabbily  clad ;  in  tattered  clothes,  bad  straw 
hats  and  felt  bonnets,  and  broken  shoes.  The  latter  are  expen 
sive  articles,  and  negroes  cannot  dig  without  them.  Trescot 
sighed  as  he  spoke  of  the  increase  of  price  since  the  troubles 
broke  out. 

The  huts  stand  in  a  row,  like  a  street,  each  detached,  with 
a  poultry- house  of  rude  planks  behind  it.  The  mutilations 
which  the  poultry  undergo  for  the  sake  of  distinction  are 
striking.  Some  are  deprived  of  a  claw,  others  have  the  wat- 


A  SEA-ISLAND  PLANTATION.  147 

ties  cut,  and  tails  and  wings  suffer  in  all  ways.  No  attempt 
at  any  drainage  or  any  convenience  existed  near  them,  and 
the  same  remark  applies  to  very  good  houses  of  white  people 
in  the  south.  Heaps  of  oyster  shells,  broken  crockery,  old 
shoes,  rags,  and  feathers  were  found  near  each  hut.  The  huts 
were  all  alike  windowless,  and  the  apertures,  intended  to  be 
glazed  some  fine  day,  were  generally  filled  up  with  a  deal 
board.  The  roofs  were  shingle,  and  the  whitewash  which 
had  once  given  the  settlement  an  air  of  cleanliness,  was  now 
only  to  be  traced  by  patches  which  had  escaped  the  action  of 
the  rain.  I  observed  that  many  of  the  doors  were  fastened 
by  a  padlock  and  chain  outside.  "  Why  is  that  ?  "  "  The 
owners  have  gone  out,  and  honesty  is  not  a  virtue  they  have 
towards  each  other.  They  would  find  their  things  stolen  if 
they  did  not  lock  their  doors."  Mrs.  Trescot,  however,  in 
sisted  on  it  that  nothing  could  exceed  the  probity  of  the  slaves 
in  the  house,  except  in  regard  to  sweet  things,  sugar,  and  the 
like  ;  but  money  and  jewels  were  quite  safe.  It  is  obvious 
that  some  reason  must  exist  for  this  regard  to  the  distinctions 
twixt  meum  and  tuum  in  the  case  of  masters  and  mistresses, 
when  it  does  not  guide  their  conduct  towards  each  other,  and 
I  think  it  might  easily  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  negroes 
could  scarcely  take  money  without  detection.  Jewels  and 
jewelry  would  be  of  little  value  to  them  ;  they  could  not 
wear  them,  could  not  part  with  them.  The  system  has  made 
the  white  population  a  police  against  the  black  race,  and  the 
punishment  is  not  only  sure  but  grievous.  Such  things  as 
they  can  steal  from  each  other  are  not  to  be  so  readily 
traced. 

One  particularly  dirty  looking  little  hut  was  described  to 
me  as  *'  the  church."  It  was  about  fifteen  feet  square,  be 
grimed  with  dirt  and  smoke,  and  windowless.  A  few  benches 
were  placed  across  it,  and  "  the  preacher,"  a  slave  from 
another  plantation,  was  expected  next  week.  These  preach 
ings  are  not  encouraged  in  many  plantations.  They  "  do  the 
niggers  no  good" — "they  talk  about  things  that  are  going  on 
elsewhere,  and  get  their  minds  unsettled,"  and  so  on. 

On  our  return  to  the  house,  I  found  that  Mr.  Edmund 
Rhett,  one  of  the  active  and  influential  political  family  of  that 
name,  had  called  —  a  very  intelligent  and  agreeable  gentle 
man,  but  one  of  the  most  ultra  and  violent  speakers  against 
the  Yankees  I  have  yet  heard.  He  declared  there  were  few 
persons  in  South  Carolina  who  would  not  sooner  ask  Great 


148  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

Britain  to  take  back  the  State  than  submit  to  the  triumph 
of  the  Yankees.  "  We  are  an  agricultural  people,  pursuing 
our  own  system,  and  working  out  our  own  destiny,  breeding 
up  women  and  men  with  some  other  purpose  than  to  make 
them  vulgar,  fanatical,  cheating  Yankees  —  hypocritical,  if  as 
women  they  pretend  to  real  virtue  ;  and  lying,  if  as  men  they 
pretend  to  be  honest.  We  have  gentlemen  and  gentlewomen 
in  your  sense  of  it.  We  have  a  system  which  enables  us  to 
reap  the  fruits  of  the  earth  by  a  race  which  we  save  from 
barbarism  in  restoring  them  to  their  real  place  in  the  world  as 
laborers,  whilst  we  are  enabled  to  cultivate  the  arts,  the 
graces,  and  accomplishments  of  life,  to  develop  science,  to 
apply  ourselves  to  the  duties  of  government,  and  to  under 
stand  the  affairs  of  the  country." 

This  is  a  very  common  line  of  remark  here.  The  South 
erners  also  take  pride  to  themselves,  and  not  unjustly,  for 
their  wisdom  in  keeping  in  Congress  those  men  who  have 
proved  themselves  useful  and  capable.  "  We  do  not,"  they 
say,  "  cast  able  men  aside  at  the  caprices  of  a  mob,  or  in  obe 
dience  to  some  low  party  intrigue,  and  hence  we  are  sure  of 
the  best  men,  and  are  served  by  gentlemen  conversant  with 
public  affairs,  far  superior  in  every  way  to  the  ignorant  clowns 
who  are  sent  to  Congress  by  the  North.  Look  at  the  fellows 
who  are  sent  out  by  Lincoln  to  insult  foreign  courts  by  their 
presence."  I  said  that  I  understood  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr. 
Dayton  were  very  respectable  gentlemen,  but  I  did  not  re 
ceive  any  sympathy ;  in  fact,  a  neutral  who  attempts  to  mod 
erate  the  violence  of  either  side,  is  very  like  an  ice  between 
two  hot  plates.  Mr.  Rhett  is  also  persuaded  that  the  Lord 
Chancellor  sits  on  a  cotton  bale.  "  You  must  recognize  us, 
sir,  before  the  end  of  October."  In  the  evening  a  distant 
thunder-storm  attracted  me  to  the  garden,  and  I  remained  out 
watching  the  broad  flashes  and  sheets  of  fire  worthy  of  the 
tropics  till  it  was  bedtime. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

By  railway  to  Savannah  —  Description  of  the  city  —  Rumors  of  the 
last  few  days  —  State  of  affairs  at  Washington  —  Preparations  for 
war — Cemetery  of  Bonaventure  —  lload  made  of  oyster-shells  — 
Appropriate  features  of  the  Cemetery  —  The  Tatnall  family  — « 
Dinner-party  at  Mr.  Green's — Feeling  in  Georgia  against  the 
North.  • 

April  23th,  —  This  morning  up  at  six,  A.M.,  bade  farewell 
to  our  hostess  and  Barn  well  Island,  and  proceeded  with  Tres- 
cot  back  to  the  Pocotaligo  station,  which  we  reached  at  12-20. 
On  our  way  Mr.  Heyward  and  his  son  rode  out  of  a  field, 
looking  very  like  a  couple  of  English  country  squires  in  all  but 
hats  and  saddles.  The  young  gentleman  was  good  enough 
to  bring  over  a  snake-hawk  he  had  shot  for  me.  At  the 
station,  to  which  the  Heywards  accompanied  us,  were  the 
Elliotts  and  others,  who  had  come  over  with  invitations  and 
adieux ;  and  I  beguiled  the  time  to  Savannah  reading  the 
very  interesting  book  by  Mr.  Elliott,  senior,  on  the  Wild 
Sports  of  Carolina,  which  was  taken  up  by  some  one  when 
I  left  the  carriage  for  a  moment  and  not  returned  to  me.  The 
country  through  which  we  passed  was  flat  and  flooded  as 
usual,  and  the  rail  passed  over  dark  deep  rivers  on  lofty 
trestle-work,  by  pine  wood  and  dogwood-tree,  by  the  green 
plantation  clearing,  with  mud  bank,  dike,  and  tiny  canal  mile 
by  mile,  the  train  stopping  for  the  usual  freight  of  ladies,  and 
negro  nurses,  and  young  planters,  all  very  much  of  the  same 
class,  till  at  three  o'clock,  p.  M.,  the  cars  rattled  up  along-side 
a  large  shed,  and  we  were  told  we  had  arrived  at  Savannah. 

Here  was  waiting  for  me  Mr.  Charles  Green,  who  had  al 
ready  claimed  me  and  rny  friend  as  his  guests,  and  I  found  in 
his  carriage  the  young  American  designer,  who  had  preceded 
me  from  Charleston,  and  had  informed  Mr.  Green  of  my 
coming. 

The  drive  through  such  portion  of  Savannah  as  lay  be 
tween  the  terminus  and  Mr.  Green's  house,  soon  satisfied  my 
eyes  that  it  had  two  peculiarities.  In  the  first  place,  it  had 


150  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

the  deepest  sand  in  the  streets  I  have  ever  seen ;  and  next, 
the  streets  were  composed  of  the  most  odd,  quaint,  green-win 
dowed,  many-colored  little  houses  I  ever  beheld,  with  an  odd 
population  of  lean,  sallow,  ill-dressed  unwholesome-looking 
whites,  lounging  about  the  exchanges  and  corners,  and  a  busy, 
well-clad,  gayly-attired  race  of  negroes,  working  their  way 
through  piles  of  children,  under  the  shade  of  the  trees  which 
bordered  all  the  streets.  The  fringe  of  green,  and  the  height 
attained  by  the  live-oak,  Pride  of  India,  and  magnolia,  give 
a  delicious  freshness  and  novelty  to  the  streets  of  Savannah, 
which  is  increased  by  the  great  number  of  squares  and  open 
ings  covered  with  something  like  sward,  fenced  round  by 
white  rail,  and  embellished  with  noble  trees  to  be  seen  at 
every  few  hundred  yards.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  you  are 
in  the  midst  of  a  city,  and  I  was  repeatedly  reminded  of  the 
environs  of  a  large  Indian  cantonment  —  the  same  kind  of 
churches  and  detached  houses,  with  their  plantations  and  gar 
dens  not  unlike.  The  wealthier  classes,  however,  have  houses 
of  the  New  York  Fifth  Avenue  character :  one  of  the  best  of 
these,  a  handsome  mansion  of  rich  red-sandstone,  belonged  to 
ray  host,  who  coming  out  from  England  many  years  ago, 
raised  himself  by  industry  and  intelligence  to  the  position 
of  one  of  the  first  merchants  in  Savannah.  Italian  statuary 
graced  the  hall ;  finely  carved  tables  and  furniture,  stained 
glass,  and  pictures  from  Europe  set  forth  the  sitting-rooms ; 
and  the  luxury  of  bath-rooms  and  a  supply  of  cold  fresh  water, 
rendered  it  an  exception  to  the  general  run  of  Southern  edi 
fices.  Mr.  Green  drove  me  through  the  town,  which  im 
pressed  me  more  than  ever  with  its  peculiar  character.  We 
visited  Brigadier- General  Lawton,  who  is  charged  with  the 
defences  of  the  place  against  the  expected  Yankees,  and  found 
him  just  setting  out  to  inspect  a  band  of  volunteers,  whose 
drums  we  heard  in  the  distance,  and  whose  bayonets  were 
gleaming  through  the  clouds  of  Savannah  dust,  close  to  the 
statue  erected  to  the  memory  of  one  Pulaski,  a  Pole,  who 
was  mortally  wounded  in  the  unsuccessful  defence  of  the  city 
against  the  British  in  the  War  of  Independence.  He  turned 
back  arid  led  us  into  his  house.  The  hall  was  filled  with 
little  round  rolls  of  flannel.  "  These,"  said  he,  "  are  car 
tridges  for  cannon  of  various  calibres,  made  by  the  ladies 
of  Mrs.  Lawton's  'cartridge  class.'"  There  were  more 
cartridges  in  the  back  parlor,  so  that  the  house  was  not 
quite  a  safe  place  to  smoke  a  cigar  in.  The  General  has 


NEWS  FROM  THE  NORTH.  151 

been  in  the  United  States'  army,  and  has  now  come  forward 
to  head  the  people  of  this  State  in  their  resistance  to  the 
Yankees. 

We  took  a  stroll  in  the  park,  and  I  learned  the  news  of  the 
last  few  days.  The  people  of  the  South,  I  find,  are  delighted 
at  a  snubbing  which  Mr.  Seward  has  given  to  Governor 
Hicks  of  Maryland,  for  recommending  the  arbitration  of 
Lord  Lyons,  and  he  is  stated  to  have  informed  Governor 
Hicks  that  "  our  troubles  could  not  be  referred  to  foreign  ar 
bitration,  least  of  all  to  that  of  the  representative  of  a  Euro 
pean  monarchy."  The  most  terrible  accounts  are  given  of 
the  state  of  things  in  Washington.  Mr.  Lincoln  consoles 
himself  for  his  miseries  by  drinking.  Mr.  Seward  follows 
suit.  The  White  House  and  capital  are  full  of  drunken  bor 
der  ruffians,  headed  by  one  Jim  Lane,  of  Kansas.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  Yankees,  under  one  Butler,  a  Massachu 
setts  lawyer,  have  arrived  at  Annapolis,  in  Maryland,  secured 
the  "  Constitution "  man-of-war,  and  are  raising  masses  of 
men  for  the  invasion  of  the  South  all  over  the  States.  The 
most  important  thing,  as  it  strikes  me,  is  the  proclamation  of 
the  Governor  of  Georgia,  forbidding  citizens  to  pay  any 
money  on  account  of  debts  due  to  Northerners,  till  the  end  of  the 
war.  General  Robert  E.  Lee  has  been  named  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Forces  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia, 
and  troops  are  flocking  to  that  State  from  Alabama  and  other 
States.  Governor  Ellis  has  called  out  30,000  volunteers  in 
North  Carolina,  and  Governor  Rector  of  Arkansas  has  seized 
the  United  States'  military  stores  at  Napoleon.  There  is  a 
rumor  that  Fort  Pickens  has  been  taken  also,  but  it  is  very 
probably  untrue.  In  Texas  and  Arkansas  the  United  States 
regulars  have  not  made  an  attempt  to  defend  any  of  the  forts. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  warlike  work,  volunteers  drilling, 
bands  playing,  it  was  pleasant  to  walk  in  the  shady  park,  with 
its  cool  fountains,  and  to  see  the  children  playing  about  — 
many  of  them,  alas  !  "  playing  at  soldiers  "  —  in  charge  of 
their  nurses.  Returning,  sat  in  the  veranda  and  smoked  a 
cigar  ;  but  the  mosquitoes  were  very  keen  and  numerous. 
My  host  did  not  mind  them,  but  my  cuticle  will  never  be 
sting-proof. 

April  30th,  —  At  1'30  P.  M.  a  small  party  started  from  Mr. 
Green's  to  visit  the  cemetery  of  Bonaveriture,  to  which  every 
visitor  to  Savannah  must  pay  his  pilgrimage  ;  difficiles  aditus 
primos  habet  —  a  deep  sandy  road  which  strains  the  horses 


152  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

and  the  carriages ;  but  at  last  "  the  shell  road  is  reached  —  a 
highway  several  miles  long,  consisting  of  oyster  shells  —  the 
pride  of  Savannah,  which  eats  as  many  oysters  as  it  can  to 
add  to  the  length  of  this  wonderful  road.  There  is  no  stone 
in  the  whole  of  the  vast  alluvial  ranges  of  South  Carolina  and 
Maritime  Georgia,  and  the  only  substance  available  for  mak 
ing  a  road  is  the  oyster-shell.  There  is  a  toll-gate  at  each  end 
to  aid  the  oyster-shells.  Remember  they  are  three  times  the 
size  of  any  European  crustacean  of  the  sort. 

A  pleasant  drive  through  the  shady  hedgerows  and  border 
ing  trees  lead  to  a  dilapidated  porter's  lodge  and  gateway, 
within  which  rose  in  a  towering  mass  of  green  one  of  the  fin 
est  pieces  of  forest  architecture  possible ;  nothing  to  be  sure 
like  Burnham  Beeches,  or  some  of  the  forest  glades  of  Wind 
sor,  but  possessed,  nevertheless,  of  a  character  quite  its  own. 
What  we  gazed  upon  was,  in  fact,  the  ruin  of  grand  avenues 
of  live-oak,  so  well-disposed  that  their  peculiar  mode  of 
growth  afforded  an  unusual  development  of  the  "  Gothic  idea," 
worked  out  and  elaborated  by  a  superabundant  fall  from  the 
overlacing  arms  and  intertwined  branches  of  the  tillandsia,  or 
Spanish  moss,  a  weeping,  drooping,  plumaceous  parasite,  which 
does  to  the  tree  what  its  animal  type,  the  yellow  fever  — 
vomitoprieto  —  does  to  man  —  clings  to  it  everlastingly,  drying 
up  sap,  poisoning  blood,  killing  the  principle  of  life  till  it  dies. 
The  only  differ,  as  they  say  in  Ireland,  is,  that  the  tillandsia 
all  the  time  looks  very  pretty,  and  that  the  process  lasts  very 
long.  Some  there  are  who  praise  this  tillandsia,  hanging  like 
the  tresses  of  a  witch's  hair  over  an  invisible  face,  but  to  me  it 
is  a  paltry  parasite,  destroying  the  grace  and  beauty  of  that 
it  preys  upon,  and  letting  fall  its  dull  tendrils  over  the  fresh 
lovely  green,  as  clouds  drop  over  the  face  of  some  beautiful 
landscape.  Despite  all  this,  Bonaventure  is  a  scene  of  re 
markable  interest  ;  it  seems  to  have  been  intended  for  a  place 
of  tombs.  The  Turks  would  have  filled  it  with  turbaned 
white  pillars,  and  with  warm  ghosts  at  night.  The  French 
would  have  decorated  it  with  interlaced  hands  of  stone,  with 
tears  of  red  and  black  on  white  ground,  with  wreaths  of  im 
mortelles.  I  am  not  sure  that  we  would  have  done  much 
more  than  have  got  up  a  cemetery  company,  interested  Shil- 
liber,  hired  a  beadle,  and  erected  an  iron  paling.  The  Sa 
vannah  people  not  following  any  of  these  fashions,  all  of  which 
are  adopted  in  Northern  cities,  have  left  everything  to  nature 
and  the  gatekeeper,  and  to  the  owner  of  one  of  the  hotels,  who 


THE  TATNALLS.  153 

has  got  up  a  grave-yard  in  the  ground.  And  there,  scattered 
up  and  down  under  the  grand  old  trees,  which  drop  tears  of 
Spanish  moss,  and  weave  wreaths  of  Spanish  moss,  and 
shake  plumes  of  Spanish  moss  over  them,  are  a  few  monu 
mental  stones  to  certain  citizens  of  Savannah.  There  is  a 
melancholy  air  about  the  place  independently  of  these  emblems 
of  our  mortality,  which  might  recommend  it  specially  for  pic 
nics.  There  never  was  before  a  cemetery  where  nature 
seemed  to  aid  the  effect  intended  by  man  so  thoroughly. 
Every  one  knows  a  weeping  willow  will  cry  over  a  wedding 
party  if  they  sit  under  it,  as  well  as  over  a  grave.  But  here 
the  Spanish  moss  looks  like  weepers  wreathed  by  some  fan 
tastic  hand  out  of  the  crape  of  dreamland.  Lucian's  Ghost- 
lander,  the  son  of  Skeleton  of  the  Tribe  of  the  Juiceless,  could 
tell  us  something  of  such  weird  trappings.  They  are  known 
indeed  as  the  best  bunting  for  yellow  fever  to  fight  under. 
Wherever  their  flickering  horsehair  tresses  wave  in  the  breeze, 
taper  end  downwards,  Squire  Black  Jack  is  bearing  lance  and 
sword.  One  great  green  oak  says  to  the  other,  "  This  fellow 
is  killing  me.  Take  his  deadly  robes  off  my  limbs !  "  "  Alas ! 
see  how  he  is  ruining  me  !  I  have  no  life  to  help  you."  It 
is,  indeed,  a  strange  and  very  ghastly  place.  Here  are  so 
many  querci  virentes,  old  enough  to  be  strong,  and  big,  and 
great,  sapful,  lusty,  wide-armed,  green-honored  —  all  dying 
out  slowly  beneath  tillandsia,  as  if  they  were  so  many  mon 
archies  perishing  of  decay — -or  so  many  youthful  republics 
dying  of  buncombe  brag,  richness  of  blood,  and  other  diseases 
fatal  to  overgrown  bodies  politic. 

The  void  left  in  the  midst  of  all  these  designed  walks  and 
stately  avenues,  by  the  absence  of  any  suitable  centre,  increases 
the  seclusion  and  solitude.  A  house  ought  to  be  there  some 
where  you  feel  —  in  fact  there  was  once  the  mansion  of  the  Tat- 
nalls,  a  good  old  English  family,  whose  ancestors  came  from  the 
old  country,  ere  the  rights  of  man  were  talked  of,  and  lived 
among  the  Oglethorpes,  and  such  men  of  the  pigtail  school, 
who  would  have  been  greatly  astonished  at  finding  themselves 
in  company  with  Benjamin  Franklin  or  his  kind.  I  don't 
know  anything  of  old  Tatnall.  Indeed  who  does  ?  But  he 
had  a  fine  idea  of  planting  trees,  which  he  never  got  in  Amer 
ica,  where  he  would  have  received  scant  praise  for  anything 
but  his  power  to  plant  cotton  or  sugar-cane  just  now.  In  his 
knee  breeches,  and  top  boots,  I  can  fancy  the  old  gentleman 
reproducing  some  home  scene,  and  boasting  to  himself,  "  I  will 
7* 


154  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

make  it  as  fine  as  Lord  Nihilo's  park."  Could  he  see  it  now  ? 
—  A  decaying  army  of  the  dead.  The  mansion  was  burned 
down  during  a  Christmas  merrymaking,  and  was  never  built 
again,  and  the  young  trees  have  grown  up  despite  the  Spanish 
moss,  and  now  they  stand,  as  it  were  in  cathedral  aisles,  around 
the  ruins  of  the  departed  house,  shading  the  ground,  and  en 
shrining  its  memories  in  an  antiquity  which  seems  of  the 
remotest,  although  it  is  not  as  ancient  as  that  of  the  youngest 
oak  in  the  Squire's  park  at  home. 

I  have  before  oftentimes  in  my  short  voyages  here,  won 
dered  greatly  at  the  reverence  bestowed  on  a  tree.  In  fact, 
it  is  because  a  tree  of  any  decent  growth  is  sure  to  be  older 
than  anything  else  around  it ;  and  although  young  America 
revels  in  her  future,  she  is  becoming  old  enough  to  think 
about  her  past. 

In  the  evening  Mr.  Green  gave  a  dinner  to  some  very 
agreeable  people,  Mr.  Ward,  the  Chinese  Minister  —  (who 
tried,  by  the  by,  to  make  it  appear  that  his  wooden  box  was 
the  Pekin  State  carriage  for  distinguished  foreigners)  —  Mr. 
Locke,  the  clever  and  intelligent  editor  of  the  principal  jour 
nal  in  Savannah,  Brigadier  Lawton,  one  of  the  Judges,  a 
Britisher,  owner  of  the  once  renowned  America  which,  under 
the  name  of  Camilla,  was  now  lying  in  the  river  (not  perhaps 
without  reference  to  a  little  speculation  in  running  the  block 
ade,  hourly  expected),  Mr.  Ward  and  Commodore  Tatnall,  so 
well  known  to  us  in  England  for  his  gallant  conduct  in  the 
Peiho  affair,  when  he  offered  and  gave  our  vessels  aid,  though 
a  neutral,  and  uttered  the  exclamation  in  doing  so,  —  in  his 
despatch  at  all  events,  —  "  that  blood  was  thicker  than  water." 
Of  our  party  was  also  Mr.  Hodgson,  well  known  to  most  of 
our  Mediterranean  travellers  some  years  back,  when  he  was 
United  States  Consul  in  the  East.  He  amuses  his  leisure 
still  by  inditing  and  reading  monographs  on  the  languages  of 
divers  barbarous  tribes  in  Numidia  and  Mauritania. 

The  Georgians  are  not  quite  so  vehement  as  the  South 
Carolinians  in  their  hate  of  the  Northerners  ;  but  they  are 
scarcely  less  determined  to  fight  President  Lincoln  and  all  his 
men.  And  that  is  the  test  of  this  rebellion's  strength.  I  did 
not  hear  any  profession  of  a  desire  to  become  subject  to  Eng 
land,  or  to  borrow  a  prince  of  us ;  but  I  have  nowhere  seen 
stronger  determination  to  resist  any  reunion  with  the  New 
England  States.  "  They  can't  conquer  us,  sir  ?  "  "  If  they 
try  it,  we'll  whip  them." 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

The  river  at  Savannah  —  Commodore  Tatnall  —  Fort  Pulaski  —  Want 
of  a  fleet  to  the  Southerners  —  Strong  feeling  of  the  women  — 
Slavery  considered  in  its  result  —  Cotton  and  Georgia  —  Off  for 
Montgomery — The  Bishop  of  Georgia  —  The  Bible  and  Slavery 
—  Macon  —  Dislike  of  United  States  gold. 

May  Day.  —  Not  unworthy  of  the  best  effort  of  English 
fine  weather  before  the  change  in  the  calendar  robbed  the 
poets  of  twelve  days,  but  still  a  little  warm  for  choice.  The 
young  American  artist  Moses,  who  was  to  have  called  our 
party  to  meet  the  officers  who  were  going  to  Fort  Pulaski, 
for  some  reason  known  to  himself  remained  on  board  the 
Camilla,  and  when  at  last  we  got  down  to  the  river  side  I 
found  Commodore  Tatnall  and  Brigadier  Lawton  in  full  uni 
form  waiting  for  me. 

The  river  is  about  the  width  of  the  Thames  below  Graves- 
end,  very  muddy,  with  a  strong  current,  and  rather  fetid. 
That  effect  might  have  been  produced  from  the  rice-swamps 
at  the  other  side  of  it,  where  the  land  is  quite  low,  and  stretches 
away  as  far  as  the  sea  in  one  level  green,  smooth  as  a  billiard- 
cloth.  The  bank  at  the  city  side  is  higher,  so  that  the  houses 
stand  on  a  little  eminence  over  the  stream,  affording  con 
venient  wharfage  and  slips  for  merchant  vessels. 

Of  these  there  were  few  indeed  visible  —  nearly  all  had 
cleared  out  for  fear  of  the  blockade ;  some  coasting  vessels 
were  lying  idle  at  the  quay  side,  and  in  the  middle  of  the 
stream  near  a  floating  dock  the  Camilla  was  moored,  with  her 
club  ensign  flying.  These  are  the  times  for  bold  ventures, 
and  if  Uncle  Sam  is  not  very  quick  with  his  blockades,  there 
will  be  plenty  of  privateers  and  the  like  under  C.  S.  A.  colors, 
looking  out  for  his  fat  merchantmen  all  over  the  world. 

I  have  been  trying  to  persuade  my  friends  here  they  will 
find  very  few  Englishmen  willing  to  take  letters  of  marque 
and  reprisal. 

The  steamer  which  was  waiting  to  receive  us  had  the  Con- 


156  MY   DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

federate  flag  flying,  and  Commodore  Tatnall,  pointing  to  a 
young  officer  in  a  naval  uniform,  told  me  he  had  just  "come 
over  from  the  other  side,"  and  that  he  had  pressed  hard  to  be 
allowed  to  hoist  a  Commodore  or  flag-officer's  ensign  in  honor 
of  the  visit  and  of  the  occasion.  I  was  much  interested  in  the 
fine  white-headed,  blue-eyed,  ruddy-cheeked  old  man  —  who 
suddenly  found  himself  blown  into  the  air  by  a  great  political 
explosion,  and  in  doubt  and  wonderment  was  floating  to  shore, 
under  a  strange  flag  in  unknown  waters.  He  was  full  of 
anecdote  too,  as  to  strange  flags  in  distant  waters  and  well- 
known  names.  The  gentry  of  Savannah  had  a  sort  of  Celtic 
feeling  towards  him  in  regard  of  his  old  name,  and  seemed  de 
termined  to  support  him. 

He  has  served  the  Stars  and  Stripes  for  three  fourths  of  a 
long  life  —  his  friends  are  in  the  North,  his  wife's  kindred  are 
there,  and  so  are  all  his  best  associations  —  but  his  State  has 
gone  out.  How  could  he  fight  against  the  country  that  gave 
him  birth  !  The  United  States  is  no  country,  in  the  sense 
we  understand  the  words.  It  is  a  corporation  or  a  body  cor 
porate  for  certain  purposes,  and  a  man  might  as  well  call  him 
self  a  native  of  the  common  council  of  the  city  of  London,  or 
a  native  of  the  Swiss  Diet,  in  the  estimation  of  our  Americans, 
as  say  he  is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States ;  though  it  answers 
very  well  to  say  so  when  he  is  abroad,  or  for  purposes  of  a 
legal  character. 

Of  Fort  Pulaski  itself  I  wrote  on  my  return  a  long  account 
to  the  "  Times." 

When  I  was  venturing  to  point  out  to  General  Lawton  the 
weakness  of  Fort  Pulaski,  placed  as  it  is  in  low  land,  accessi 
ble  to  boats,  and  quite  open  enough  for  approaches  from  the  city 
side,  he  said,  "  Oh,  that  is  true  enough.  All  our  seacoast 
works  are  liable  to  that  remark,  but  the  Commodore  will  take 
care  of  the  Yankees  at  sea,  and  we  shall  manage  them  on 
land."  These  people  all  make  a  mistake  in  referring  to  the 
events  of  the  old  war.  "  We  beat  off  the  British  fleet  at 
Charleston  by  the  militia  —  ergo,  we'll  sink  the  Yankees  now." 
They  do  not  understand  the  nature  of  the  new  shell  and 
heavy  vertical  fire,  or  the  effect  of  projectiles  from  great  dis 
tances  falling  into  works.  The  Commodore  afterwards, 
smiling,  remarked,  '*  I  have  no  fleet.  Long  before  the  South 
ern  Confederacy  has  a  fleet  that  can  cope  with  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  my  bones  will  be  white  in  the  grave." 

We  got  back  by  eight  o'clock,  p.  M.,  after  a  pleasant  day. 


CIVILIZING  EFFECT   OF  SLAVERY.  157 

"What  I  saw  did  not  satisfy  me  that  Pulaski  was  strong,  or 
Savannah  very  safe.  At  Bonaventure,  yesterday,  I  saw  a 
poor  fort,  called  "  Thunderbolt,"  on  an  inlet  from  which  the 
city  was  quite  accessible.  It  could  be  easily  menaced  from 
that  point,  while  attempts  at  landing  were  made  elsewhere,  as 
soon  as  Pulaski  is  reduced.  At  dinner  met  a  very  strong 
and  very  well-informed  Southerner  —  there  are  some  who  are 
neither  —  or  either  —  whose  name  was  spelled  Gourdin,  and 
pronounced  Go-dine — just  as  Huger  is  called  Hugee  —  and 
Tagliaferro,  Telfer,  in  these  parts. 

May  2d.  —  Breakfasted  with  Mr.  Hodgson,  where  I  met 
Mr.  Locke,  Mr.  Ward,  Mr.  Green,  and  Mrs.  Hodgson  and 
her  sister.  There  were  in  attendance  some  good-looking 
little  negro  boys  and  men  dressed  in  liveries,  which  smacked 
of  our  host's  Orientalism ;  and  they  must  have  heard  our  dis 
cussion,  or  rather  allusion,  to  the  question  which  would  decide 
whether  we  thought  they  are  human  beings  or  black  two- 
legged  cattle,  with  some  interest,  unless  indeed  the  boast  of 
their  masters,  that  slavery  elevates  the  character  and  civilizes 
the  mind  of  a  negro,  is  another  of  the  false  pretences  on 
which  the  institution  is  rested  by  its  advocates.  The  native 
African,  poor  wretch,  avoids  being  carried  into  slavery  totis 
viribus,  and  it  would  argue  ill  for  the  effect  on  his  mind  of 
becoming  a  slave,  if  he  prefers  a  piece  of  gaudy  calico  even 
to  his  loin-cloth  and  feather  head-dress.  This  question  of 
civilizing  the  African  in  slavery,  is  answered  in  the  assertion 
of  the  slave  owners  themselves,  that  if  the  negroes  were  left 
to  their  own  devices  by  emancipation,  they  would  become  the 
worst  sort  of  barbarians  —  a  veritable  Quasheedom,  the  like 
of  which  was  never  thought  of  by  Mr.  Thomas  Carlyle.  I 
doubt  if  the  aboriginal  is  not  as  civilized,  in  the  true  sense  of 
the  word,  as  any  negro,  after  three  degrees  of  descent  in 
servitude,  whom  I  have  seen  on  any  of  the  plantations  — 
even  though  the  latter  have  leather  shoes  and  fustian  or  cloth 
raiment  and  felt  hat,  and  sings  about  the  Jordan.  He  is  ex 
empted  from  any  bloody  raid  indeed,  but  he  is  liable  to  be 
carried  from  his  village  and  borne  from  one  captivity  to  an 
other,  and  his  family  are  exposed  to  the  same  exile  in  America 
as  in  Africa.  The  extreme  anger  with  which  any  unfavorable 
comment  is  met  publicly,  shows  the  sensitiveness  of  the  slave 
owners.  Privately,  they  affect  philosophy ;  and  the  blue 
books,  and  reports  of  Education  Commissions  and  Mining 
Committees,  furnish  them  with  an  inexhaustible  source  of  ar- 


158  MY   DIARY   NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

gument,  if  you  once  admit  that  the  summum  bonum  lies  in  a 
certain  rotundity  of  person,  and  a  regular  supply  of  coarse 
food.  A  long  conversation  on  the  old  topics  —  old  to  me,  but 
of  only  a  few  weeks'  birth.  People  are  swimming  with  the 
tide.  Here  are  many  men, -who  would  willingly  stand  aside 
if  they  could,  and  see  the  battle  between  the  Yankees,  whom 
they  hate,  and  the  Secessionists.  But  there  are  no  women  in 
this  party.  Wo  betide  the  Northern  Pyrrhus,  whose  head  is 
within  reach  of  a  Southern  tile  and  a  Southern  woman's 


arm 


I  revisited  some  of  the  big  houses  afterwards,  and  found 
the  merchants  not  cheerful,  but  fierce  and  resolute.  There  is 
a  considerable  population  of  Irish  and  Germans  in  Savannah, 
who  to  a  man  are  in  favor  of  the  Confederacy,  and  will  fight 
to  support  it.  Indeed,  it  is  expected  they  will  do  so,  and  there 
is  a  pressure  brought  to  bear  on  them  by  their  employers 
which  they  cannot  well  resist.  The  negroes  will  be  forced 
into  the  place  the  whites  hitherto  occupied  as  laborers  —  only 
a  few  useful  mechanics  will  be  kept,  and  the  white  population 
will  be  obliged  by  a  moral  force  drafting  to  go  to  the  wars. 
The  kingdom  of  cotton  is  most  essentially  of  this  world,  and  it 
will  be  fought  for  vigorously.  On  the  quays  of  Savannah, 
and  in  the  warehouses,  there  is  not  a  man  who  doubts  that  he 
ought  to  strike  his  hardest  for  it,  or  apprehends  failure.  And 
then,  what  a  career  is  before  them  !  All  the  world  asking 
for  cotton,  and  England  dependent  on  it.  What  a  change  since 
Whitney  first  set  his  cotton-gin  to  work  in  this  state  close  by 
us  !  Georgia,  as  a  vast  country  only  partially  reclaimed,  yet 
looks  to  a  magnificent  future.  In  her  past  history  the  Florida 
wars,  and  the  treatment  of  the  unfortunate  Cherokee  Indians, 
who  were  expelled  from  their  lands  as  late  as  1838,  show  the 
people  who  descended  from  old  Oglethorpe's  band  were  fierce 
and  tyrannical,  and  apt  at  aggression,  nor  will  slavery  im 
prove  them.  I  do  not  speak  of  the  cultivated  and  hospitable 
citizens  of  the  large  towns,  but  of  the  bulk  of  the  slaveless 
whites. 

May  3d.  —  I  bade  good-by  to  Mr.  Green,  who  with  several 
of  his  friends  carne  down  to  see  me  off,  at  the  terminus  or 
"  depot "  of  the  Central  Railway,  on  my  way  to  Montgomery 
—  and  looked  my  last  on  Savannah,  its  squares  and  leafy 
streets,  its  churches,  and  institutes,  with  a  feeling  of  regret 
that  I  could  not  see  more  of  them,  and  that  I  was  forced  to  be 
content  with  the  outer  aspect  of  the  public  buildings.  I  had 


EPISCOPAL   SANCTION  OF  SLAVERY.  159 

been  serenaded  and  invited  out  in  all  directions,  asked  to  visit 
plantations  and  big  trees,  to  make  excursions  to  famous  or 
beautiful  spots,  and  especially  warned  not  to  leave  the  State 
without  visiting  the  mountain  district  in  the  northern  and  west 
ern  portion  ;  but  the  march  of  events  called  me  to  Mont 
gomery. 

From  Savannah  to  Macon,  191  miles,  the  road  passes 
through  level  country  only  partially  cleared.  That  is,  there 
are  patches  of  forest  still  intruding  on  the  green  fields,  where 
the  jagged  black  teeth  of  the  destroyed  trees  rise  from  above 
the  maize  and  cotton.  There  were  but  few  negroes  visible  at 
work,  nor  did  the  land  appear  rich,  but  I  was  told  the  rail  was 
laid  along  the  most  barren  part  of  the  country.  The  Indians 
had  roamed  in  these  woods  little  more  than  twenty  years  ago 

—  now  the  wooden  huts  of  the  planters'  slaves,  and  the  larger 
edifice  with  its  veranda  and  timber  colonnade   stood  in   the 
place  of  their  wigwam. 

Among  the  passengers  to  whom  I  was  introduced  was  the 
Bishop  of  Georgia,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Elliott,  a  man  of  exceeding 
fine  presence,  of  great  stature,  and  handsome  face,  with  a 
manner  easy  and  graceful,  but  we  got  on  the  unfortunate 
subject  of  slavery,  and  I  rather  revolted  at  hearing  a  Christian 
prelate  advocating  the  institution  on  scriptural  grounds. 

This  affectation  of  Biblical  sanction  and  ordinance  as  the 
basis  of  slavery  was  not  new  to  me,  though  it  is  not  much 
known  at  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  I  had  read  in  a  work 
on  slavery,  that  it  was  permitted  by  both  the  Scriptures  and  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  that  it  must,  therefore, 
be  doubly  right.  A  nation  that  could  approve  of  such  inter 
pretations  of  the  Scriptures  and  at  the  same  time  read  the 
"  New  York  Herald."  seemed  ripe  for  destruction  as  a  corpo 
rate  existence.  The  maliun  prohibitum  was  the  only  evil  its 
crass  senses  could  detect,  and  the  malum  per  se  was  its  good, 
if  it  only  came  covered  with  cotton  or  gold.  The  miserable 
sophists  who  expose  themselves  to  the  contempt  of  the  world 
by  their  paltry  thesicles  on  the  divine  origin  and  uses  of 
slavery,  are  infinitely  more  contemptible  than  the  wretched 
bigots  who  published  themes  long  ago  on  the  propriety  of 
burning  witches,  or  on  the  necessity  for  the  offices  of  the  In 
quisition. 

Whenever  the  Southern  Confederacy  shall  achieve  its  inde 
pendence —  no  matter  what  its  resources,  its  allies,  or  its  aims 

—  it  will  have  to  stand  face  to  face  with  civilized  Europe  on 


1GO  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

this  question  of  slavery,  and  tlie  strength  which  it  derived  from 
the  asgis  of  the  Constitution  —  "  the  league  with  the  devil  and 
covenant  with  Hell"  —  will  be  withered  and  gone. 

I  am  well  aware  of  the  danger  of  drawing  summary  con 
clusions  off-hand  from  the  windows  of  a  railway,  but  there  is 
also  a  right  of  sight  which  exists  under  all  circumstances,  and 
so  one  can  determine  if  a  man's  face  be  dirty  as  well  from  a 
glance  as  if  he  inspected  it  for  half  an  hour.  For  instance, 
no  one  can  doubt  the  evidence  of  his  senses,  when  he  sees 
from  the  windows  of  the  carriages  that  the  children  are  bare 
footed,  shoeless,  stockingless  —  that  the  people  who  congregate 
at  the  wooden  huts  and  grog-shops  of  the  stations  are  rude,  un 
kempt,  but  great  fighting  material,  too  —  that  the  villages  are 
miserable  places,  compared  with  the  trim,  snug  settlements 
one  saw  in  New  Jersey  from  the  carriage  windows.  Slaves 
in  the  fields  looked  happy  enough  —  but  their  masters  certainly 
were  rough  looking  and  uncivilized  —  and  the  land  was  but 
badly  cleared.  But  then  we  were  traversing  the  least  fertile 
portions  of  the  State  —  a  recent  acquirement  —  gained  only 
one  generation  since. 

The  train  halted  at  a  snug  little  wood-embowered  restaurant, 
surrounded  by  trellis  and  lattice-work,  and  in  the  midst  of  a 
pretty  garden,  which  presented  a  marked  contrast  to  the  "  sur 
roundings  "  we  had  seen.  The  dinner,  served  by  slaves,  was 
good  of  its  kind,  and  the  charge  not  high.  On  tendering  the 
landlord  a  piece  of  gold  for  payment,  he  looked  at  it  with  dis 
gust,  and  asked,  "  Have  you  no  Charleston  money  ?  No  Con 
federate  notes  ?  "  "  Well,  no  !  Why  do  you  object  to  gold  ?  " 
"  Well,  do  you  see,  I'd  rather  have  our  own  paper !  I  don't 
care  to  take  any  of  the  United  States  gold.  I  don't  want  their 
stars  and  their  eagles  ;  I  hate  the  sight  of  them."  The  man 
was  quite  sincere  —  my  companion  gave  him  notes  of  some 
South  Carolina  bank. 

It  was  dark  when  the  train  reached  Macon,  one  of  the  prin 
cipal  cities  of  the  State.  We  drove  to  the  best  hotel,  but  the 
regular  time  for  dinner  hour  was  over,  and  that  for  supper  not 
yet  come.  The  landlord  directed  us  to  a  subterranean  restau 
rant,  in  which  were  a  series  of  crypts  closed  in  by  dirty  cur 
tains,  where  we  made  a  very  extraordinary  repast,  served  by 
a  half-clad  little  negress,  who  watched  us  at  the  meal  with 
great  interest  through  the  curtains  —  the  service  was  of  the 
coarsest  description  ;  thick  French  earthenware,  the  spoons 
of  pewter,  the  knives  and  forks  steel  or  iron,  with  scarce  a 


MACON  HOTEL.  161 

pretext  of  being  cleaned.  On  the  doors  were  the  usual  warn 
ings  against  pickpockets,  and  the  customary  internal  police 
regulations  and  ukases.  Pickpockets  and  gamblers  abound 
in  American  cities,  and  thrive  greatly  at  the  large  hotels  and 
the  lines  of  railways. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Slave-pens  ;  Negroes  on  sale  or  hire  —  Popular  feeling  as  to  Secession 

—  Beauregard  and  speech-making  —  Arrival  at  Montgomery  — 
Bad  hotel  accommodation —  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  —  Re 
flections  on  Slavery  —  Slave  auction  —  The  Legislative  Assembly 

—  A   "  live  chattel "  knocked  down  —  Rumors  from  the  North 
(true  and  false)  and  prospects  of  war. 

May  Mh.  —  In  the  morning  I  took  a  drive  about  the  city, 
which  is  loosely  built  in  detached  houses  over  a  very  pretty 
undulating  country  covered  with  wood  and  fruit-trees.  Many 
good  houses  of  dazzling  white,  with  bright  green  blinds,  veran 
das,  and  doors,  stand  in  their  own  grounds  or  gardens.  In 
the  course  of  the  drive  I  saw  two  or  three  signboards  and 
placards  announcing  that  "  Smith  &  Co.  advanced  money  on 
slaves,  and  had  constant  supplies  of  Virginian  negroes  on  sale 
or  hire."  These  establishments  were  surrounded  by  high 
walls  enclosing  the  slave-pens  or  large  rooms,  in  which  the 
slaves  are  kept  for  inspection.  The  train  for  Montgomery 
started  at  9*45  A.  M.,  but  I  had  no  time  to  stop  and  visit  them. 

It  is  evident  we  are  approaching  the  Confederate  capital, 
for  the  candidates  for  office  begin  to  show,  and  I  detected  a 
printed  testimonial  in  my  room  in  the  hotel.  The  country, 
from  Macon,  in  Georgia,  to  Montgomery,  in  Alabama,  offers  no 
features  to  interest  the  traveller  which  are  not  common  to  the 
districts  already  described.  It  is,  indeed,  more  undulating, 
and  somewhat  more  picturesque,  or  less  unattractive,  but,  on 
the  whole,  there  is  little  to  recommend  it,  except  the  natural 
fertility  of  the  soil.  The  people  are  rawer,  ruder,  bigger  — 
there  is  the  same  amount  of  tobacco  chewing  and  its  conse 
quences —  and  as  much  swearing  or  use  of  expletives.  The 
men  are  tall,  lean,  uncouth,  but  they  are  not  peasants.  There 
are,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  no  rustics,  no  peasantry  in  America  ; 
men  dress  after  the  same  type,  differing  only  in  finer  or  coarser 
material ;  every  man  would  wear,  if  he  could,  a  black  satin 
waistcoat  and  a  large  diamond  pin  stuck  in  the  front  of  his 


POPULAR  FEELING.  163 

shirt,  as  he  certainly  has  a  watch  and  a  gilt  or  gold  chain  of 
some  sort  or  other.  The  Irish  laborer,  or  the  German  hus 
bandman  is  the  nearest  approach  to  our  Giles  Joker  or  the 
Jacques  Bonhomme  to  be  found  in  the  States.  The  mean 
white  affects  the  style  of  the  large  proprietor  of  slaves  or  cap 
ital  as  closely  as  he  can ;  he  reads  his  papers  —  and,  by  the 
by,  they  are  becoming  smaller  and  more  whitey-brown  as  we 
proceed  —  and  takes  his  drink  with  the  same  air  —  takes  up 
as  much  room,  and  speaks  a  good  deal  in  the  same  fashion. 

The  people  are  all  hearty  Secessionists  here  —  the  Bars  and 
Stars  are  flying  at  the  road-stations  and  from  the  pine-tops, 
and  there  are  lusty  cheers  for  Jeff  Davis  and  the  Southern 
Confederacy.  Troops  are  flocking  towards  Virginia  from  the 
Southern  States  in  reply  to  the  march  of  Volunteers  from 
Northern  States  to  Washington ;  but  it  is  felt  that  the  steps 
taken  by  the  Federal  Government  to  secure  Baltimore  have 
obviated  any  chance  of  successfully  opposing  the  "  Lincolnites  " 
going  through  that  city.  There  is  a  strong  disposition  on  the 
part  of  the  Southerners  to  believe  they  have  many  friends  in 
the  North,  and  they  endeavor  to  attach  a  factious  character 
to  the  actions  of  the  Government  by  calling  the  Volunteers 
and  the  war  party  in  the  North  "  Lincolnites,"  "  Lincoln's 
Mercenaries,"  "  Black  Republicans,"  "  Abolitionists,"  and  the 
like.  The  report  of  an  armistice,  now  denied  by  Mr.  Seward 
officially,  was  for  some  time  current,  but  it  is  plain  that  the  South 
must  make  good  its  words,  and  justify  its  acts  by  the  sword. 
General  Scott  would,  it  was  fondly  believed,  retire  from  the 
United  States  army,  and  either  remain  neutral  or  take  com 
mand  under  the  Confederate  flag,  but  now  that  it  is  certain  he 
will  not  follow  any  of  these  courses,  he  is  assailed  in  the  foulest 
manner  by  the  press  and  in  private  conversation.  Heaven 
help  the  idol  of  a  democracy ! 

At  one  of  the  junctions  General  Beauregard,  attended  by 
Mr.  Manning,  and  others  of  his  staff,  got  into  the  car,  and 
tried  to  elude  observation,  but  the  conductors  take  great  pleas 
ure  in  unearthing  distinguished  passengers  for  the  public,  and 
the  General  was  called  on  for  a  speech  by  the  crowd  of  idlers. 
The  General  hates  speech-making,  he  told  me,  and  he  had 
besides  been  bored  to  death  at  every  station  by  similar  de 
mands.  But  a  man  must  be  popular  or  he  is  nothing.  So, 
as  next  best  thing,  Governor  Manning  made  a  speech  in  the 
General's  name,  in  which  he  dwelt  on  Southern  Rights,  Sumter, 
victory,  and  abolitiondom,  and  was  carried  off  from  the  cheers 


164  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

of  his  auditors  by  the  train  in  the  midst  of  an  unfinished 
sentence.  There  were  a  number  of  blacks  listening  to  the 
Governor,  who  were  appreciative. 

Towards  evening,  having  thrown  out  some  slight  outworks, 
against  accidental  sallies  of  my  fellow-passengers'  saliva,  I 
went  to  sleep,  and  woke  up  at  eleven  p.  M.,  to  hear  we  were  in. 
Montgomery.  A  very  rickety  omnibus  took  the  party  to  the 
hotel,  which  was  crowded  to  excess.  The  General  and  his 
friends  had  one  room  to  themselves.  Three  gentlemen  and 
myself  were  crammed  into  a  filthy  room  which  already  con 
tained  two  strangers,  and  as  there  were  only  three  beds  in  the 
apartment  it  was  apparent  that  we  were  intended  to  "  double 
up  considerably ;  "  but  after  strenuous  efforts,  a  little  bribery 
and  cajoling,  we  succeeded  in  procuring  mattresses  to  put  on 
the  floor,  which  was  regarded  by  our  neighbors  as  a  proof  of 
miserable  aristocratic  fastidiousness.  Had  it  not  been  for  the 
flies,  the  fleas  would  have  been  intolerable,  but  one  nuisance 
neutralized  the  other.  Then,  as  to  food  —  nothing  could  be 
had  in  the  hotel  —  but  one  of  the  \vaiters  led  us  to  a  restau 
rant,  where  we  selected  from  a  choice  bill  of  fare,  which  con 
tained,  I  think,  as  many  odd  dishes  as  ever  I  saw,  some  un 
known  fishes,  oyster-plants,  'possums,  raccoons,  frogs,  and  other 
delicacies,  and,  eschewing  toads  and  the  like,  really  made  a 
good  meal  off  dirty  plates  on  a  vile  table-cloth,  our  appetites 
being  sharpened  by  the  best  of  condiments. 

Colonel  Pickett  has  turned  up  here,  having  made  his  escape 
from  Washington  just  in  time  to  escape  arrest  —  travelling 
in  disguise  on  foot  through  out-of-the-way  places  till  he  got 
among  friends. 

I  was  glad  when  bedtime  approached,  that  I  was  not  among 
the  mattress  men.  One  of  the  gentlemen  in  the  bed  next 
the  door  was  a  tremendous  projector  in  the  tobacco  juice  line  : 
his  final  rumination  ere  he  sank  to  repose  was  a  masterpiece 
of  art  —  a  perfect  liquid  pyrotechny,  Roman  candles  and 
falling  stars.  A  horrid  thought  occurred  as  I  gazed  and  won 
dered.  In  case  he  should  in  a  supreme  moment  turn  his 
attention  my  way  !  —  I  was  only  seven  or  eight  yards  off, 
and  that  might  be  nothing  to  him  !  — I  hauled  down  my  mos 
quito  curtain  at  once,  and  watched  him  till,  completely  satia 
ted,  he  slept. 

May  5th.  —  Very  warm,  and  no  cold  water,  unless  one  went 
to  the  river.  The  hotel  baths  were  not  promising.  This 
hotel  is  worse  than  the  Mills  House  or  Willard's.  The  feeding 


INNER  VIEW  OF  SLAVERY.  165 

and  the  flies  are  intolerable.  One  of  our  party  comes  in  to 
say  that  he  could  scarce  get  down  to  the  hall  on  account  of 
the  crowd,  and  that  all  the  people  who  passed  him  had  very 
hard,  sharp  bones.  He  remarks  thereupon  to  the  clerk  at  the 
bar,  who  tells  him  that  the  particular  projections  he  alludes  to 
are  implements  of  defence  or  offence,  as  the  case  may  be,  and 
adds,  "  I  suppose  you  and  your  friends  are  the  only  people 
in  the  house  who  haven't  a  bowie-knife,  or  a  six-shooter,  or 
Derringer  about  them."  The  house  is  full  of  Confederate 
congressmen,  politicians,  colonels,  and  place-men  with  or 
without  places,  and  a  vast  number  of  speculators,  contractors, 
and  the  like,  attracted  by  the  embryo  government.  Among 
the  visitors  are  many  filibusters,  such  as  Henningsen,  Piek- 
ett,  Tochman,  Wheat.*  I  hear  a  good  deal  about  the  associa 
tion  called  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  a  Protestant 
association  for  securing  the  Gulf  provinces  and  States,  includ 
ing —  which  has  been  largely  developed  by  recent  events  — 
them  in  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  creating  them  into  an 
independent  government. 

Montgomery  has  little  claims  to  be  called  a  capital.  The 
streets  are  very  hot,  unpleasant,  and  uninteresting.  I  have 
rarely  seen  a  more  dull,  lifeless  place  ;  it  looks  like  a  small 
Russian  town  in  the  interior.  The  names  of  the  shopkeepers 
indicate  German  and  French  origin.  I  looked  in  at  one  or 
two  of  the  slave  magazines,  which  are  not  unlike  similar  estab 
lishments  in  Cairo  and  Smyrna.  A  certain  degree  of  free 
dom  is  enjoyed  by  some  of  the  men,  who  lounge  about  the 
doors,  and  are  careless  of  escape  or  liberty,  knowing  too  well 
the  difficulties  of  either. 

It  is  not  in  its  external  aspects  generally  that  slavery  is  so 
painful.  The  observer  must  go  with  Sterne,  and  gaze  in  on 
the  captives'  dungeons  through  the  bars.  The  condition  of  a 
pig  in  a  sty  is  not,  in  an  animal  sense,  anything  but  good. 
Well  fed,  over  fed,  covered  from  the  winds  and  storms  of 
heaven,  with  clothing,  food,  medicine,  provided,  children  taken 
care  of,  aged  relatives  and  old  age  itself  succored  and  guarded 

—  is  not  this ?  Get  thee  behind  us,  slave  philosopher  ! 

The  hour  comes  when  the  butcher  steals  to  the  sty,  and  the 
knife  leaps  from  the  sheath. 

Now  there  is  this  one  thing  in  being  an  ara£  di/Spwv,  that 
be  the  race  of  men  bad  as  it  may,  a  kind  of  grandiose  charac 
ter  is  given  to  their  leader.  The  stag  which  sweeps  his  rivals 
*  Since  killed  in  action. 


166  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

from  his  course  is  the  largest  of  the  herd  ;  but  a  man  who 
drives  the  largest  drove  of  sheep  is  no  better  than  he  who 
drives  the  smallest.  The  flock  he  compels,  must  consist  of 
human  beings  to  develop  the  property  of  which  I  speak,  and 
so  the  very  superiority  of  the  slave  master  in  the  ways  and 
habits  of  command  proves  that  the  negro  is  a  man.  But,  at 
the  same  time  the  law  which  regulates  all  these  relations  be 
tween  man  and  his  fellows,  asserts  itself  here.  The  dominant 
race  becomes  dependent  on  some  other  body  of  men,  less  mar 
tial,  arrogant,  and  wealthy,  for  its  elegances,  luxuries,  and 
necessaries.  The  poor  villeins  round  the  Norman  castle  forge 
the  armor,  make  the  furniture,  and  exercise  the  mechanical 
arts  which  the  baron  and  his  followers  are  too  ignorant  and 
too  proud  to  pursue  ;  if  there  is  no  population  to  serve  this 
purpose,  some  energetic  race  comes  in  their  place,  and  the 
Yankee  does  the  part  of  the  little  hungry  Greek  to  the 
Roman  patrician. 

The  South  has  at  present  little  or  no  manufactures,  takes 
everything  from  the  Yankee  outside  or  the  mean  white  within 
her  gates,  and  despises  both.  Both  are  reconciled  by  interest. 
The  one  gets  a  good  price  for  his  manufacture  and  the  fruit 
of  his  ingenuity  from  a  careless,  spendthrift  proprietor ;  the 
other  hopes  to  be  as  good  as  his  master  some  day,  and  sees 
the  beginning  of  his  fortune  in  the  possession  of  a  negro.  It 
is  fortunate  for  our  great  British  Catherine-wheel,  which  is 
continually  throwing  off  light  and  heat  to  the  remotest  parts 
of  the  world  —  I  hope  not  burning  down  to  a  dull  red  cinder 
in  the  centre  at  last  —  that  it  had  not  to  send  its  emigrants  to 
the  Southern  States,  as  assuredly  the  emigration  would  soon 
have  been  checked.  The  United  States  has  been  represented 
to  the  British  and  Irish  emigrants  by  the  Free  States  —  the 
Northern  States  and  the  great  West  —  and  the  British  and 
German  emigrant  who  finds  himself  in  the  South,  has  drifted 
there  through  the  Northern  States,  and  either  is  a  migratory 
laborer,  or  hopes  to  return  with  a  little  money  to  the  North 
and  West,  if  he  does  not  see  his  way  to  the  possession  of  land 
and  negroes. 

After  dinner  at  the  hotel  table,  which  was  crowded  with 
officers,  and  where  I  met  Mr.  Howell  Cobb  and  several  sena 
tors  of  the  new  Congress,  I  spent  the  evening  with  Colonel 
Deas,  Quartermaster-General,  and  a  number  of  his  staff,  in 
their  quarters.  As  I  was  walking  over  to  the  house,  one  of 
the  detached  villa-like  residences  so  common  in  Southern  cities, 


COTTON,  LAND,  AND  NEGROES.         167 

I  perceived  a  crowd  of  very  well-dressed  negroes,  men  and 
women,  in  front  of  a  plain  brick  building  which  I  was  inform 
ed  was  their  Baptist  meeting-house,  into  which  white  people 
rarely  or  never  intrude.  These  were  domestic  servants,  or 
persons  employed  in  stores,  and  their  general  appearance  indi 
cated  much  comfort  and  even  luxury.  I  doubted  if  they  all 
were  slaves.  One  of  my  companions  went  up  to  a  young 
woman  in  a  straw-hat,  with  bright  red-and-green  ribbon  trim 
mings  and  artificial  flowers,  a  gaudy  Paisley  shawl,  and  a  rain 
bow-like  gown,  blown  out  over  her  yellow  boots  by  a  prodig 
ious  crinoline,  and  asked  her  "  Whom  do  you  belong  to  ?  "  She 
replied,  "  I  b'long  to  Massa  Smith,  sar."  Well,  we  have  men 
who  "  belong "  to  horses  in  England.  I  am  not  sure  if 
Americans,  North  and  South,  do  not  consider  their  superiority 
to  all  Englishmen  so  thoroughly  established,  that  they  can 
speak  of  them  as  if  they  were  talking  of  inferior  animals. 
To-night,  for  example,  a  gallant  young  South  Carolinian, 
one  Ransome  Calhoun,*  was  good  enough  to  say  that  "  Great 
Britain  was  in  mortal  fear  of  France,  and  was  abjectly  subdued 
by  her  great  rival."  Hence  came  controversy,  short  and  acri 
monious. 

May  6th.  —  I  forgot  to  say  that  yesterday  before  dinner  I 
drove  out  with  some  gentlemen  and  the  ladies  of  the  family  of 
Mr.  George  N.  Sanders,  once  United  States  consul  at  Liver 
pool,  now  a  doubtful  man  here,  seeking  some  office  from  the 
Government,  and  accused  by  a  portion  of  the  press  of  being 
a  Confederate  spy  —  Porous  de  grege  epicuri  —  but  a  learned 
pig  withal,  and  weatherwise,  and  mindful  of  the  signs  of  the 
times,  catching  straws  and  whisking  them  upwards  to  detect 
the  currents.  Well,  in  this  great  moment  I  am  bound  to  say 
there  was  much  talk  of  ice.  The  North  owns  the  frozen  cli 
mates  ;  but  it  was  hoped  that  Great  Britain,  to  whom  belongs 
the  North  Pole,  might  force  the  blockade  and  send  aid. 

The  environs  of  Montgomery  are  agreeable  —  well-wooded, 
undulating,  villas  abounding,  public  gardens,  and  a  large  negro 
and  mulatto  suburb.  It  is  not  usual,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  to 
see  women  riding  on  horseback  in  the  South,  but  on  the  road 
here  we  encountered  several. 

After  breakfast  I  walked  down  with  Senator  Wigfall  to  the 

capitol  of  Montgomery  —  one  of  the  true  Athenian  Yankee- 

ized   structures  of  this  novo-classic  land,   erected  on   a  site 

worthy  of  a  better  fate  and  edifice.     By  an  open  cistern,  on 

*  Since  killed. 


168  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

our  way,  I  came  on  a  gentleman  engaged  in  disposing  of  some 
living  ebony  carvings  to  a  small  circle,  who  had  more  curiosity 
than  cash,  for  they  did  not  at  all  respond  to  the  energetic 
appeals  of  the  auctioneer. 

Tiie  sight  was  a  bad  preparation  for  an  introduction  to  the 
legislative  assembly  of  a  Confederacy  which  rests  on  the  In 
stitution  as  the  corner-stone  of  the  social  and  political  arch 
which  maintains  it.  But  there  they  were,  the  legislators  or 
conspirators,  in  a  large  room  provided  with  benches  and  seats, 
and  listening  to  such  a  sermon  as  a  Balfour  of  Burley  might  have 
preached  to  his  Covenanters  —  resolute  and  massive  heads, 
and  large  frames  —  such  men  as  must  have  a  faith  to  inspire 
them.  And  that  is  so.  Assaulted  by  reason,  by  logic,  argu 
ment,  philanthropy,  progress  directed  against  his  peculiar  in 
stitutions,  the  Southerner  at  last  is  driven  to  a  fanaticism  —  a 
sacred  faith  which  is  above  all  reason  or  logical  attack  in  the 
propriety,  righteousness,  and  divinity  of  slavery. 

The  chaplain,  a  venerable  old  man,  loudly  invoked  curses 
on  the  heads  of  the  enemy,  and  blessings  on  the  arms  and 
councils  of  the  New  State.  When  he  was  done,  Mr.  Howell 
Cobb,  a  fat,  double-chinned,  mellow-eyed  man,  rapped  with 
his  hammer  on  the  desk  before  the  chair  on  which  he  sat 
as  speaker  of  the  assembly,  and  the  house  proceeded  to  bus 
iness.  I  could  fancy  that,  in  all  but  garments,  they  were 
like  the  men  who  first  conceived  the  great  rebellion  which-led 
to  the  independence  of  this  wonderful  country  —  so  earnest, 
so  grave,  so  sober,  and  so  vindictive  —  at  least,  so  embittered 
against  the  power  which  they  consider  tyrannical  and  insulting. 

The  word  "  liberty  "  was  used  repeatedly  in  the  short  time 
allotted  to  the  public  transaction  of  business  and  the  reading 
of  documents  ;  the  Congress  was  anxious  to  get  to  its  work, 
and  Mr.  Howell  Cobb  again  thumped  his  desk  and  announced 
that  the  house  was  going  into  "secret  session,"  which  inti 
mated  that  all  persons  who  were  not  members  should  leave.  I 
was  introduced  to  what  is  called  the  floor  of  the  house,  and  had 
a  delegate's  chair,  and  of  course  I  moved  away  with  the  others, 
and  with  the  disappointed  ladies  and  men  from  the  galleries ; 
but  one  of  the  members,  Mr.  Rhett,  I  believe,  said  jokingly : 
"  I  think  you  ought  to  retain  your  seat.  If  the  '  Times '  will 
support  the  South,  we'll  accept  you  as  a  delegate."  I  replied 
that  I  was  afraid  I  could  not  act  as  a  delegate  to  a  Congress 
of  Slave  States.  And,  indeed,  I  had  been  much  affected  at 
the  slave  auction  held  just  outside  the  hotel,  on  the  steps  of 


NEGRO  AUCTION.  169 

the  public  fountain,  which  I  had  witnessed  on  my  way  to  the 
capitol.  The  auctioneer,  who  was  an  ill-favored,  dissipated- 
looking  rascal,  had  his  "  article  "  beside  him,  on,  not  in,  a  deal 
packing-case  —  a  stout  young  negro  badly  dressed  and  ill-shod, 
who  stood  with  all  his  goods  fastened  in  a  small  bundle  in  his 
hand,  looking  out  at  the  small  and  listless  gathering  of  men, 
who,  whittling  and  chewing,  had  moved  out  from  the  shady  side 
of  the  street  as  they  saw  the  man  put  up.  The  chattel  charac 
ter  of  slavery  in  the  States  renders  it  most  repulsive.  What  a 
pity  the  nigger  is  not  polypoid  —  so  that  he  could  be  cut  up 
in  junks,  and  each  junk  should  reproduce  itself. 

A  man  in  a  cart,  some  volunteers  in  coarse  uniforms,  a  few 
Irish  laborers  in  a  long  van,  and  four  or  five  men  in  the  usual 
black  coat,  satin  waistcoat,  and  black  hat,  constituted  the  au 
dience,  whom  the  auctioneer  addressed  volubly  :  "  A  prime  field 
hand  !  Just  look  at  him  —  good-natered,  well-tempered  ;  no 
marks,  nary  sign  of  bad  about  him  !  En-i-ne  hunthered  — 
only  nine  hun-ther-ed  and  fifty  dol'rs  for  'em  !  Why,  it's  quite 

rad-aklous  !  Nine  hundred  and  fifty  dol'rs  !  I  can't  raly • 

That's  good.  Thank  you,  sir.  Twenty-five  bid  —  nine  hun- 
therd  and  seventy-five  dol'rs  for  this  most  useful  hand.  The 
price  rose  to  one  thousand  dollars,  at  which  the  useful 
hand  was  knocked  down  to  one  of  the  black  hats  near  me. 
The  auctioneer  and  the  negro  and  his  buyer  all  walked  off  to 
gether  to  settle  the  transaction,  and  the  crowd  moved  away. 

"  That  nigger  went  cheap,"  said  one  of  them  to  a  compan 
ion,  as  he  walked  towards  the  shade.  "  Yes,  Sirr  !  Niggers 
is  cheap  now  —  that's  a  fact."  I  must  admit  that  I  felt  my 
self  indulging  in  a  sort  of  reflection  whether  it  would  not  be 
nice  to  own  a  man  as  absolutely  as  one  might  possess  a  horse 
—  to  hold  him  subject  to  my  will  and  pleasure,  as  if  he  were 
a  brute  beast  without  the  power  of  kicking  or  biting  —  to 
make  him  work  for  me  —  to  hold  his  fate  in  my  hands  :  but 
the  thought  was  for  a  moment.  It  was  followed  by  disgust. 

I  have  seen  slave  markets  in  the  East,  where  the  traditions 
of  the  race,  the  condition  of  family  and  social  relations  divest 
slavery  of  the  most  odious  characteristics  which  pertain  to  it 
in  the  States  ;  but  the  use  of  the  English  tongue  in  such  a 
transaction,  and  the  idea  of  its  taking  place  among  a  civilized 
Christian  people,  produced  in  me  a  feeling  of  inexpressible 
loathing  and  indignation.  Yesterday  I  was  much  struck  by 
the  intelligence,  activity,  and  desire  to  please  of  a  good-look 
ing  colored  waiter,  who  seemed  so  light-hearted  and  light- 
8 


170  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

colored  I  could  not  imagine  he  was  a  slave.  So  one  of  our 
party,  who  was  an  American,  asked  him  :  "  What  are  you, 
boy  —  a  free  nigger  ?  "  Of  course  he  knew  that  in  Alabama 
it  was  most  unlikely  he  could  reply  in  the  affirmative.  The 
young  man's  smile  died  away  from  his  lips,  a  flush  of  blood 
embrowned  the  face  for  a  moment,  and  he  answered  in  a  sad, 
low  tone  :  "  No,  sir !  I  b'long  to  Massa  Jackson,"  and  left  the 
room  at  once.  As  I  stood  at  an  upper  window  of  the  capitol, 
and  looked  on  the  wide  expanse  of  richly-wooded,  well-culti 
vated  land  which  sweeps  round  the  hill-side  away  to  the  hori 
zon,  I  could  not  help  thinking  of  the  misery  and  cruelty  which 
must  have  been  borne  in  tilling  the  land  and  raising  the 
houses  and  streets  of  the  dominant  race  before  whom  one  na 
tionality  of  colored  people  has  perished  within  the  memory  of 
man.  The  misery  and  cruelty  of  the  system  are  established 
by  the  advertisements  for  runaway  negroes,  and  by  the  de 
scription  of  the  stigmata  on  their  persons  —  whippings  and 
brandings,  scars  and  cuts  —  though  these,  indeed,  are  less 
frequent  here  than  in  the  border  States. 

On  my  return,  the  Hon.  W.  M.  Browne,  Assistant-Secre 
tary  of  State,  came  to  visit  me  —  a  cadet  of  an  Irish  family, 
who  came  to  America  some  years  ago,  and  having  lost  his 
money  in  land  speculations,  turned  his  pen  to  good  account 
as  a  journalist,  and  gained  Mr.  Buchanan's  patronage  and 
support  as  a  newspaper  editor  in  Washington.  There  he  be 
came  intimate  with  the  Southern  gentlemen,  with  whom  he 
naturally  associated  in  preference  to  the  Northern  members  ; 
and  when  they  went  out,  he  walked  over  along  with  them. 
He  told  me  the  Government  had  already  received  numerous 
—  I  think  he  said  400  —  letters  from  ship-owners  applying 
for  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal.  Many  of  these  applica 
tions  were  from  merchants  in  Boston,  and  other  maritime 
cities  in  the  New  England  States.  He  further  stated  that 
the  President  was  determined  to  take  the  whole  control  of  the 
army,  and  the  appointments  to  command  in  all  ranks  of  offi 
cers  into  his  own  hands. 

There  is  now  no  possible  chance  of  preserving  the  peace  or 
of  averting  the  horrors  of  war  from  these  great  and  prosper 
ous  communities.  The  Southern  people,  right  or  wrong,  are 
bent  on  independence  and  on  separation,  and  they  will  tight 
to  the  last  for  their  object. 

The  press  is  fanning  the  flame  on  both  sides :  it  would  be 
difficult  to  say  whether  it  or  the  telegraphs  circulate  lies  most 


NOW  AND  EIGHTY-SIX  YEARS   SINCE.  171 

largely ;  but  that  as  the  papers  print  the  telegrams  they  must 
have  the  palm.  The  Southerners  are  told  there  is  a  reign  of  ter 
ror  in  New  York  —  that  the  7th  New  York  Regiment  has  been 
captured  by  the  Baltimore  people  —  that  Abe  Lincoln  is 
always  drunk  —  that  General  Lee  has  seized  Arlington  Heights, 
and  is  bombarding  Washington.  The  New  York  people  are 
regaled  with  similar  stories  from  the  South.  The  coincidence 
between  the  date  of  the  skirmish  at  Lexington  and  of  the  at 
tack  on  the  6th  Massachusetts  Regiment  at  Baltimore  is  not 
so  remarkable  as  the  fact,  that  the  first  man  who  was  killed  at 
the  latter  place,  86  years  ago,  was  a  direct  descendant  of  the 
first  of  the  colonists  who  was  killed  by  the  royal  soldiery. 
Baltimore  may  do  the  same  for  the  South  which  Lexington 
did  for  all  the  Colonies.  Head-shaving,  forcible  deportations, 
tarring  and  feathering  are  recommended  and  adopted  as  spe 
cifics  to  produce  conversion  from  erroneous  opinions.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  has  called  into  service  of  the 
Federal  Government  42,000  volunteers,  and  increased  the  reg 
ular  army  by  22,000  men,  and  the  navy  by  18,000  men.  If 
the  South  secede,  they  ought  certainly  to  take  over  with  them 
some  Yankee  hotel  keepers.  This  "  Exchange  "  is  in  a  fright 
ful  state  —  nothing  but  noise,  dirt,  drinking,  wrangling. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Proclamation  of  war  —  Jefferson  Davis  —  Interview  with  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  Confederacy  —  Passport  and  safe-conduct  —  Messrs. 
Wigfall,  Walker,  and  Benjamin  —  Privateering  and  letters  of 
marque  —  A  reception  at  Jefferson  Davis's  —  Dinner  at  Mr.  Ben 
jamin's. 

May  9th.  —  To-day  the  papers  contain  a  proclamation  by 
the  President  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America,  declar 
ing  a  state  of  war  between  the  Confederacy  and  the  United 
States,  and  notifying  the  issue  of  letters  of  marque  and  repri 
sal.  I  went  out  with  Mr.  Wigfall  in  the  forenoon  to  pay  my 
respects  to  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  at  the  State  Department. 
Mr.  Seward  told  me  that  but  for  Jefferson  Davis  the  Seces 
sion  plot  could  never  have  been  carried  out.  No  other  man 
of  the  party  had  the  brain,  or  the  courage  and  dexterity,  to 
bring  it  to  a  successful  issue.  All  the  persons  in  the  Southern 
States  spoke  of  him  with  admiration,  though  their  forms  of 
speech  and  thought  generally  forbid  them  to  be  respectful  to 
any  one. 

There  before  me  was  "  Jeff  Davis's  State  Department''  —  a 
large  brick  building,  at  the  corner  of  a  street,  with  a  Confed 
erate  flag  floating  above  it.  The  door  stood  open,  and  "  gave  " 
on  a  large  hall  whitewashed,  with  doors  plainly  painted  be 
longing  to  small  rooms,  in  which  was  transacted  most  impor 
tant  business,  judging  by  the  names  written  on  sheets  of  paper 
and  applied  outside,  denoting  bureaux  of  the  highest  functions. 
A  few  clerks  were  passing  in  and  out,  and  one  or  two  gentlemen 
were  on  the  stairs,  but  there  was  no  appearance  of  any  bustle 
in  the  building. 

We  walked  straight  up-stairs  to  the  first  floor,  which  was 
surrounded  by  doors  opening  from  a  quadrangular  platform. 
On  one  of  these  was  written  simply,  "  The  President."  Mr. 
Wigfall  went  in,  and  after  a  moment  returned  and  said,  "  The 
President  will  be  glad  to  see  you  ;  walk  in,  sir."  When  I 
entered,  the  President  was  engaged  with  four  gentlemen,  who 


MR.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  173 

were  making  some  offer  of  aid  to  him.  He  was  thanking 
them  "  in  the  name  of  the  Government."  Shaking  hands 
with  each,  he  saw  them  to  the  door,  bowed  them  and  Mr. 
Wigfall  out,  and  turning  to  me,  said,  "  Mr.  Russell,  I  am  glad 
to  welcome  you  here,  though  I  fear  your  appearance  is  a 
symptom  that  our  affairs  are  not  quite  prosperous,"  or  words 
to  that  effect.  Pie  then  requested  me  to  sit  down  close  to  his 
own  chair  at  his  office-table,  and  proceeded  to  speak  on  gen 
eral  matters,  adverting  to  the  Crimean  War  and  the  Indian 
Mutiny,  and  asking  questions  about  Sebastopol,  the  Redan, 
and  the  Siege  of  Lucknow. 

I  had  an  opportunity  of  observing  the  President  very 
closely :  he  did  not  impress  me  as  favorably  as  I  had  ex 
pected,  though  he  is  certainly  a  very  different  looking  man 
from  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  is  like  a  gentleman  —  has  a  slight, 
light  figure,  little  exceeding  middle  height,  and  holds  himself 
erect  and  straight.  He  was  dressed  in  a  rustic  suit  of  slate- 
colored  stuff,  with  a  black  silk  handkerchief  round  his  neck  ; 
his  manner  is  plain,  and  rather  reserved  and  drastic  ;  his 
head  is  well  formed,  with  a  fine  full  forehead,  square  and 
high,  covered  with  innumerable  fine  lines  and  wrinkles,  fea 
tures  regular,  though  the  cheek-bones  are  too  high,  and  the 
jaws  too  hollow  to  be  handsome  ;  the  lips  are  thin,  flexible,  and 
curved,  the  chin  square,  well  defined  ;  the  nose  very  regular, 
with  wide  nostrils  ;  and  the  eyes  deep-set,  large  and  full  — 
one  seems  nearly  blind,  and  is  partly  covered  with  a  film, 
owing  to  excruciating  attacks  of  neuralgia  and  tic.  Wonder 
ful  to  relate,  he  does  not  chew,  and  is  neat  and  clean-looking, 
with  hair  trimmed,  and  boots  brushed.  The  expression  of  his 
face  is  anxious,  he  has  a  very  haggard,  care-worn,  and  pain- 
drawn  look,  though  no  trace  of  anything  but  the  utmost  con 
fidence  and  the  greatest  decision  could  be  detected  in  his  con 
versation.  He  asked  me  some  general  questions  respecting 
the  route  I  had  taken  in  the  States. 

I  mentioned  that  I  had  seen  great  military  preparations 
through  the  South,  and  was  astonished  at  the  alacrity  with 
which  the  people  sprang  to  arms.  "  Yes,  sir,"  he  remarked, 
and  his  tone  of  voice  and  manner  of  speech  are  rather  re 
markable  for  what  are  considered  Yankee  peculiarities,  "  In 
Eu-rope"  (Mr.  Seward  also  indulges  in  that  pronunciation) 
"  they  laugh  at  us  because  of  our  fondness  for  military  titles 
and  displays.  All  your  travellers  in  this  country  have  com 
mented  on  the  number  of  generals  and  colonels  and  majors 


174  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

all  over  the  States.  But  the  fact  is,  we  are  a  military  peo 
ple,  and  these  signs  of  the  fact  were  ignored.  We  are  not 
less  military  because  we  have  had  no  great  standing  armies. 
But  perhaps  we  are  the  only  people  in  the  world  where  gen 
tlemen  go  to  a  military  academy  who  do  not  intend  to  follow 
the  profession  of  arms." 

In  the  course  of  our  conversation,  I  asked  him  to  have  the 
goodness  to  direct  that  a  sort  of  passport  or  protection  should 
be  given  to  me,  as  I  might  possibly  fall  in  with  some  guerrilla 
leader  on  my  way  northwards,  in  whose  eyes  I  might  not  be 
entitled  to  safe  conduct.  Mr.  Davis  said,  "  I  shall  give  such 
instructions  to  the  Secretary  of  War  as  shall  be  necessary. 
But,  sir,  you  are  among  civilized,  intelligent  people  who  under 
stand  your  position,  and  appreciate  your  character.  We  do 
not  seek  the  sympathy  of  England  by  unworthy  means,  for 
we  respect  ourselves,  and  we  are  glad  to  invite  the  scrutiny 
of  men  into  our  acts  ;  as  for  our  motives,  we  meet  the  eye  of 
Heaven."  I  thought  I  could  judge  from  his  words  that  he 
had  the  highest  idea  of  the  French  as  soldiers,  but  that  his 
feelings  and  associations  were  more  identified  with  England, 
although  he  was  quite  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  conquering 
the  repugnance  which  exists  to  slavery. 

Mr.  Davis  made  no  allusion  to  the  authorities  at  Washing 
ton,  but  he  asked  me  if  I  thought  it  was  supposed  in  England 
there  would  be  war  between  the  two  States  ?  I  answered, 
that  I  was  under  the  impression  the  public  thought  there 
would  be  no  actual  hostilities.  "  And  yet  you  see  we  are 
driven  to  take  up  arms  for  the  defence  of  our  rights  and  lib 
erties." 

As  I  saw  an  immense  mass  of  papers  on  his  table,  I  rose 
and  made  my  bow,  and  Mr.  Davis,  seeing  me  to  the  door, 
gave  me  his  hand  and  said,  "  As  long  as  you  may  stay  among 
us  you  shall  receive  every  facility  it  is  in  our  power  to  afford 
to  you,  and  I  shall  always  be  glad  to  see  you."  Colonel  Wig- 
fall  was  outside,  and  took  me  to  the  room  of  the  Secretary  of 
War,  Mr.  Walker,  whom  we  found  closeted  with  General 
Beauregard  and  two  other  officers  in  a  room  full  of  maps  and 
plans.  He  is  the  kind  of  man  generally  represented  in  our 
types  of  a  "  Yankee  "  —  tall,  lean,  straight-haired,  angular, 
with  fiery,  impulsive  eyes  and  manner  —  a  ruminator  of  to 
bacco  and  a  profuse  spitter  —  a  lawyer,  I  believe,  certainly 
not  a  soldier ;  ardent,  devoted  to  the  cause,  and  confident  to 
the  last  degree  of  its  speedy  success. 


MR.  BENJAMIN.  175 

The  news  that  two  more  States  had  joined  the  Confederacy, 
making  ten  in  all,  was  enough  to  put  them  in  good  humor. 
"  Is  it  not  too  bad  these  Yankees  will  not  let  us  go  our  own 
way,  and  keep  their  cursed  Union  to  themselves  ?  If  they 
force  us  to  it,  we  may  be  obliged  to  drive  them  beyond  the 
Susquehanna."  Beauregard  was  in  excellent  spirits,  busy 
measuring  off  miles  of  country  with  his  compasses,  as  if  he 
were  dividing  empires. 

From  this  room  I  proceeded  to  the  office  of  Mr.  Benjamin, 
the  Attorney-General  of  the  Confederate  States,  the  most 
brilliant  perhaps  of  the  whole  of  the  famous  Southern  orators. 
He  is  a  short,  stout  man,  with  a  full  face,  o-live-colored,  and 
most  decidedly  Jewish  features,  with  the  brightest  large  black 
eyes,  one  of  which  is  somewhat  diverse  from  the  other,  and  a 
brisk,  lively,  agreeable  manner,  combined  with  much  vivacity 
of  speech  and  quickness  of  utterance.  He  is  one  of  the  first 
lawyers  or  advocates  in  the  United  States,  and  had  a  large 
practice  at  Washington,  where  his  annual  receipts  from  his 
profession  were  not  less  than  £8,000  to  £10,000  a  year.  But 
his  love  of  the  card-table  rendered  him  a  prey  to  older  and 
cooler  hands,  who  waited  till  the  sponge  was  full  at  the  end 
of  the  session,  and  then  squeezed  it  to  the  last  drop. 

Mr.  Benjamin  is  the  most  open,  frank,  and  cordial  of  the 
Confederates  whom  I  have  yet  met.  In  a  few  seconds  he  was 
telling  me  all  about  the  course  of  Government  with  respect  to 
privateers  and  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  in  order  prob 
ably  to  ascertain  what  were  our  views  in  England  on  the  sub 
ject.  I  observed  it  was  likely  the  North  would  not  respect 
their  flag,  and  would  treat  their  privateers  as  pirates.  "  We 
have  an  easy  remedy  for  that.  For  any  man  under  our  flag 
whom  the  authorities  of  the  United  States  dare  to  execute,  we 
shall  hang  two  of  their  people."  "  Suppose,  Mr.  Attorney- 
General,  England,  or  any  of  the  great  powers  which  decreed 
the  abolition  of  privateering,  refuses  to  recognize  your  flag  ?  " 
"  We  intend  to  claim,  and  do  claim,  the  exercise  of  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  an  independent  sovereign  State,  and 
any  attempt  to  refuse  us  the  full  measure  of  those  rights  would 
be  an  act  of  hostility  to  our  country."  "  But  if  England,  for 
example,  declared  your  privateers  were  pirates  ?  "  "  As  the 
United  States  never  admitted  the  principle  laid  down  at  the 
Congress  of  Paris,  neither  have  the  Confederate  States.  If 
England  thinks  fit  to  declare  privateers  under  our  flag  pirates, 
it  would  be  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  declaration  of  war 


176  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

against  us,  and  we  must  meet  it  as  best  we  can."  In  fact, 
Mr.  Benjamin  did  not  appear  afraid  of  anything  ;  but  his  con 
fidence  respecting  Great  Britain  was  based  a  good  deal,  no 
doubt,  on  his  firm  faith  in  cotton,  and  in  England's  utter  sub 
jection  to  her  cotton  interest  and  manufactures.  "All  this 
coyness  about  acknowledging  a  slave  power  will  come  rifrht  at 
last.  "We  hear  our  commissioners  have  gone  on  to  Paris, 
which  looks  as  if  they  had  met  with  no  encouragement  at 
London  ;  but  we  are  quite  easy  in  our  minds  on  this  point  at 
present." 

So  Great  Britain  is  in  a  pleasant  condition.  Mr.  Seward 
is  threatening  us  with  war  if  we  recognize  the  South,  and  the 
South  declares  that  if  we  don't  recognize  their  flag,  they  will 
take  it  as  an  act  of  hostility.  Lord  Lyons  is  pressed  to  give 
an  assurance  to  the  Government  at  Washington,  that  under 
no  circumstances  will  Great  Britain  recognize  the  Southern 
rebels  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  Mr.  Seward  refuses  to  give  any 
assurance  whatever,  that  the  right  of  neutrals  will  be  respected 
in  the  impending  struggle. 

As  I  was  going  down  stairs,  Mr.  Browne  called  me  into  his 
room.  He  said  that  the  Attorney- General  and  himself  were 
in  a  state  of  perplexity  as  to  the  form  in  which  letters  of 
marque  and  reprisal  should  be  made  out.  They  had  con 
sulted  all  the  books  they  could  get,  but  found  no  examples  to 
suit  their  case,  and  he  wished  to  know,  as  I  was  a  barrister, 
whether  I  could  aid  him.  I  told  him  it  was  not  so  much  my 
regard  to  my  own  position  as  a  neutral,  as  the  vafri  inscitia 
juris  which  prevented  me  throwing  any  light  on  the  subject. 
There  are  not  only  Yankee  ship-owners  but  English  firms 
ready  with  sailors  and  steamers  for  the  Confederate  Govern 
ment,  and  the  owner  of  the  Camilla  might  be  tempted  to  part 
with  his  yacht  by  the  offers  made  to  him. 

Being  invited  to  attend  a  levee  or  reception  held  by  Mrs. 
Davis,  the  President's  wife,  I  returned  to  the  hotel  to  prepare 
for  the  occasion.  On  my  way  I  passed  a  company  of  volun 
teers,  one  hundred  and  twenty  artillerymen,  and  three  field- 
pieces,  on  their  way  to  the  station  for  Virginia,  followed  by  a 
crowd  of  "  citizens  "  and  negroes  of  both  sexes,  cheering  vo 
ciferously.  The  band  was  playing  that  excellent  quick-step 
"  Dixie."  The  men  were  stout,  fine  fellows,  dressed  in  coarse 
gray  tunics  with  yellow  facings,  and  French  caps.  They 
were  armed  with  smooth-bore  muskets,  and  their  knapsacks 
were  unfit  for  marching,  being  water-proof  bags  slung  from 


MR.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AT  HOME.  177 

the  shoulders.  The  guns  had  no  caissons,  and  the  shoeing 
of  the  troops  was  certainly  deficient  in  soling.  The  Zouave 
mania  is  quite  as  rampant  here  as  it  is  in  New  York,  and  the 
smallest  children  are  thrust  into  baggy  red  breeches,  which 
the  learned  Lipsius  might  have  appreciated,  and  are  sent  out 
with  flags  and  tin  swords  to  impede  the  highways. 

The  modest  villa  in  which  the  President  lives  is  painted 
white,  —  another  "White  House,"  —  and  stands  in  a  small 
garden.  The  door  was  open.  A  colored  servant  took  in  our 
names,  and  Mr.  Browne  presented  me  to  Mrs.  Davis,  whom  I 
could  just  make  out  in  the  demi-jour  of  a  moderately-sized 
parlor,  surrounded  by  a  few  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  former 
in  bonnets,  the  latter  in  morning  dress  a  la  midi.  There 
was  no  affectation  of  state  or  ceremony  in  the  reception. 
Mrs.  Davis,  whom  some  of  her  friends  call  "  Queen  Varina," 
is  a  comely,  sprightly  woman,  verging  on  matronhood,  of  good 
figure  and  manners,  well-dressed,  ladylike,  and  clever,  and  she 
seemed  a  great  favorite  with  those  around  her,  though  I 
did  hear  one  of  them  say,  "  It  must  be  very  nice  to  be  the 
President's  wife,  and  be  the  first  lady  in  the  Confederate 
States."  Mrs.  Davis,  whom  the  President  C.  S.  married  en 
secondes  noces,  exercised  considerable  social  influence  in  Wash 
ington,  where  I  met  many  of  her  friends.  She  was  just  now 
inclined  to  be  angry,  because  the  papers  contained  a  report 
that  a  reward  was  offered  in  the  North  for  the  head  of  the 
arch  rebel  Jeff  Davis.  "  They  are  quite  capable,  I  believe," 
she  said,  "  of  such  acts."  There  were  not  more  than  eighteen 
or  twenty  persons  present,  as  each  party  came  in  and  staid 
only  for  a  few  moments,  and,  after  a  time,  I  made  my  bow 
and  retired,  receiving  from  Mrs.  Davis  an  invitation  to  come 
in  the  evening,  when  I  would  find  the  President  at  home. 

At  sundown,  amid  great  cheering,  the  guns  in  front  of  the 
State  Department,  fired  ten  rounds  to  announce  that  Tennessee 
and  Arkansas  had  joined  the  Confederacy. 

In  the  evening  I  dined  with  Mr.  Benjamin  and  his  brother- 
in-law,  a  gentleman  of  New  Orleans,  Colonel  Wigfall  coming 
in  at  the  end  of  dinner.  The  New  Orleans  people  of  French 
descent,  or  "  Creoles,"  as  they  call  themselves,  speak  French 
in  preference  to  English,  and  Mr.  Benjamin's  brother-in-law 
labored  considerably  in  trying  to  make  himself  understood  in 
our  vernacular.  The  conversation,  Franco-English,  very 
pleasant,  for  Mr.  Benjamin  is  agreeable  and  lively.  He  is 
certain  that  the  English  law  authorities  must  advise  the  Gov- 
8* 


178  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

ernment  that  the  blockade  of  the  Southern  ports  is  illegal  so 
long  as  the  President  claims  them  to  be  ports  of  the  United 
States.  "  At  present,"  he  said,  "  their  paper  blockade  does  no 
harm  ;  the  season  for  shipping  cotton  is  over ;  but  in  October 
next,  when  the  Mississippi  is  floating  cotton  by  the  thousands 
of  bales,  and  all  our  wharves  are  full,  it  is  inevitable  that  the 
Yankees  must  come  to  trouble  with  this  attempt  to  coerce  us." 
Mr.  Benjamin  walked  back  to  the  hotel  with  me,  and  we  found 
our  room  full  of  tobacco-smoke,  filibusters,  and  conversation,  in 
which,  as  sleep  was  impossible,  we  were  obliged  to  join.  I 
resisted  a  vigorous  attempt  of  Mr.  G.  N.  Sanders  and  a  friend 
of  his  to  take  me  to  visit  a  planter  who  had  a  beaver-dam 
some  miles  outside  Montgomery.  They  succeeded  in  capturing 
Mr.  Deasy. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Mr.  Wigfall  on  the  Confederacy  —  Intended  departure  from  the  South 

—  Northern  apathy  and  Southern  activity  —  Future  prospects  of 
the  Union — South  Carolina  and  cotton  —  The  theory  of  slavery 

—  Indifference  at  New  York  —  Departure  from  Montgomery. 

May  8th.  —  I  tried  to  write,  as  I  have  taken  my  place  in  the 
steamer  to  Mobile  to-morrow,  and  I  was  obliged  to  do  my  best 
in  a  room  full  of  people,  constantly  disturbed  by  visitors. 
Early  this  morning,  as  usual,  my  faithful  Wigfall  comes  in 
and  sits  by  my  bedside,  and  passing  his  hands  through  his 
locks,  pours  out  his  ideas  with  wonderful  lucidity  and  odd 
affectation  of  logic  all  his  own.  "  We  are  a  peculiar  people, 
sir !  You  don't  understand  us,  and  you  can't  understand  us, 
because  we  are  known  to  you  only  by  Northern  writers  and 
Northern  papers,  who  know  nothing  of  us  themselves,  or  mis 
represent  what  they  do  know.  We  are  an  agricultural  people  ; 
we  are  a  primitive  but  a  civilized  people.  We  have  no  cities  — 
we  don't  want  them.  We  have  no  literature  —  we  don't  need 
any  yet.  We  have  no  press  —  we  are  glad  of  it.  We  do  not 
require  a  press,  because  we  go  out  and  discuss  all  public  ques 
tions  from  the  stump  with  our  people.  We  have  no  com 
mercial  marine  —  no  navy  —  we  don't  want  them.  We  are 
better  without  them.  Your  ships  carry  our  produce,  and  you 
can  protect  you*  own  vessels.  We  want  no  manufactures : 
we  desire  no  trading,  no  mechanical  or  manufacturing  classes. 
As  long  as  we  have  our  rice,  our  sugar,  our  tobacco,  and  our 
cotton,  we  can  command  wealth  to  purchase  all  we  want  from 
those  nations  with  which  we  are  in  amity,  and  to  lay  up 
money  besides.  But  with  the  Yankees  we  will  never  trade  — 
never.  Not  one  pound  of  cotton  shall  ever  go  from  the  South 
to  their  accursed  cities ;  not  one  ounce  of  their  steel  or  their 
manufactures  shall  ever  cross  our  border."  And  so  on.  What 
the  Senator  who  is  preparing  a  bill  for  drafting  the  people 
into  the  army  fears  is,  that  the  North  will  begin  active  opera 
tions  before  the  South  is  ready  for  resistance.  "  Give  us  till 


180  MY  DIARY  NORTH   AND  SOUTH. 

November  to  drill  our  men,  and  we  shall  be  irresistible." 
He  deprecates  any  offensive  movement,  and  is  opposed  to 
an  attack  on  Washington,  which  many  journals  here  advocate. 

Mr.  Walker  sent  me  over  a  letter  recommending  me  to  all 
officers  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  I  received  an  invitation 
Jrorn  the  President  to  dine  with  him  to-rnorrow.  which  I  was 
much  chagrined  to  be  obliged  to  refuse.  In  fact,  it  is  most  im 
portant  to  complete  my  Southern  tour  speedily,  as  all  mail 
communication  will  soon  be  suspended  from  the  South,  and 
the  blockade  effectually  cuts  off  any  communication  by  sea. 
Rails  torn  up,  bridges  broken,  telegraphs  down  —  trains 
searched  —  the  war  is  begun.  The  North  is  pouring  its  hosts 
to  the  battle,  and  it  has  met  the  paeans  of  the  conquering 
Charlestonians  with  a  universal  yell  of  indignation  and  an 
oath  of  vengeance. 

I  expressed  a  belief  in  a  letter,  written  a  few  days  after  my 
arrival  (March  27th),  that  the  South  would  never  go  back 
into  the  Union.  The  North  think  that  they  can  coerce  the 
South,  and  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  they  are  right  or  wrong ; 
but  I  am  convinced  that  the  South  can  only  be  forced  back  by 
such  a  conquest  as  that  which  laid  Poland  prostrate  at  the 
feet  of  Russia.  It  may  be  that  such  a  conquest  can  be  made 
by  the  North,  but  success  must  destroy  the  Union  as  it  has 
been  constituted  in  times  past.  A  strong  Government  must 
be  the  logical  consequence  of  victory,  and  the  triumph  of 
the  South  will  be  attended  by  a  similar  result,  for  which, 
indeed,  many  Southerners  are  very  well  disposed.  To  the 
people  of  the  Confederate  States  there  would  be  no  terror  in 
such  an  issue,  for  it  appears  to  me  they  are  pining  for  a 
strong  Government  exceedingly.  The  North  must  accept  it, 
whether  they  like  it  or  not. 

Neither  party  —  if  such  a  term  can  be  applied  to  the  rest 
of  the  United  States,  and  to  those  States  which  disclaim  the 
authority  of  the  Federal  Government — was  prepared  for 
the  aggressive  or  resisting  power  of  the  other.  Already 
the  Confederate  States  perceive  that  they  cannot  carry  ail 
before  them  with  a  rush,  while  the  North  have  learned 
that  they  must  put  forth  all  their  strength  to  make  good  a 
tithe  of  their  lately  uttered  threats.  But  the  Montgomery 
Government  are  anxious  to  gain  time,  and  to  prepare  a 
regular  army.  The  North,  distracted  by  apprehensions  of 
vast  disturbance  in  their  complicated  relations,  are  clamoring 
for  instant  action  and  speedy  consummation.  The  counsels 


THE  FAITH  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA.  181 

of  moderate  men,  as  they  were  called,  have  been  utterly 
overruled. 

The  whole  foundation  on  which  South  Carolina  rests  is 
cotton  and  a  certain  amount  of  rice  ;  or  rather  she  bases 
her  whole  fabric  on  the  necessity  which  exists  in  Europe  for 
those  products  of  her  soil,  believing  and  asserting,  as  she 
does,  that  England  and  France  cannot  and  will  not  do  without 
them.  Cotton,  without  a  market,  is  so  much  flocculent  matter 
encumbering  the  ground.  Rice,  without  demand  for  it,  is  un 
salable  grain  in  store  and  on  the  field.  Cotton  at  ten  cents 
a  pound  is  boundless  prosperity,  empire,  and  superiority,  and 
rice  or  grain  need  no  longer  be  regarded. 

In  the  matter  of  slave-labor,  South  Carolina  argues  pretty 
much  in  the  following  manner:  England  and  France  (she 
says)  require  our  products.  In  order  to  meet  their  wants,  we 
must  cultivate  our  soil.  There  is  only  one  way  of  doing  so. 
The  white  man  cannot  live  on  our  land  at  certain  seasons  of 
the  year  ;  he  cannot  work  in  the  manner  required  by  the  crops. 
He  must,  therefore,  employ  a  race  suited  to  the  labor,  and  that 
is  a  race  which  will  only  work  when  it  is  obliged  to  do  so. 
That  race  was  imported  from  Africa,  under  the  sanction  of  the 
law,  by  our  ancestors,  when  we  were  a  British  colony,  and  it 
has  been  fostered  by  us,  so  that  its  increase  here  has  been  as 
great  as  that  of  the  most  flourishing  people  in  the  world.  In 
other  places,  where  its  labor  was  not  productive  or  imperative 
ly  essential,  that  race  has  been  made  free,  sometimes  with  dis 
astrous  consequences  to  itself  and  to  industry.  But  we  will 
not  make  it  free.  We  cannot  do  so.  We  hold  that  slavery  is 
essential  to  our  existence  as  producers  of  what  Europe  re 
quires  ;  nay  more,  we  maintain  it  is  in  the  abstract  right  in 
principle  ;  and  some  of  us  go  so  far  as  to  maintain  that  the 
only  proper  form  of  society,  according  to  the  law  of  God  and 
the  exigencies  of  man,  is  that  which  has  slavery  as  its  basis. 
As  to  the  slave,  he  is  happier  far  in  his  state  of  servitude, 
more  civilized  and  religious,  than  he  is  or  could  be  if  free  or  in 
his  native  Africa.  For  this  system  we  will  fight  to  the  end. 

In  the  evening  I  paid  farewell  visits,  and  spent  an  hour  with 
Mr.  Toombs,  who  is  unquestionably  one  of  the  most  original, 
quaint,  and  earnest  of  the  Southern  leaders,  and  whose  elo 
quence  and  power  as  a  debater  are  greatly  esteemed  by  his 
countrymen.  He  is  something  of  an  Anglo-maniac,  and  an 
Anglo-phobist  —  a  combination  not  unusual  in  America — • 
that  is,  he  is  proud  of  being  connected  with  and  descended 


182  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

from  respectable  English  families,  and  admires  our  mixed  con 
stitution,  whilst  he  is  an  enemy  to  what  is  called  English  pol 
icy,  and  is  a  strong  pro-slavery  champion.  Wigfall  and  he  are 
very  uneasy  about  the  scant  supply  of  gunpowder  in  the 
Southern  States,  and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  it. 

In  the  evening  had  a  little  reunion  in  the  bedroom  as  be 
fore.  —  Mr.  Wigfall,  Mr.  Keitt,  an  eminent  Southern  politi 
cian,  Col.  Pickett,  Mr.  Browne,  Mr.  Benjamin,  Mr.  George 
Sanders,  and  others.  The  last-named  gentleman  was  dismissed 
or  recalled  from  his  post  at  Liverpool,  because  he  fraternized 
with  Mazzini  and  other  Red  Republicans  a  ce  qiC  on  dit. 
Here  he  is  a  slavery  man,  and  a  friend  of  an  oligarchy.  Your 
"  Rights  of  Man  "  man  is  often  most  inconsistent  with  himself, 
and  is  generally  found  associated  with  the  men  of  force  and 
violence. 

May  9th.  —  My  faithful  Wigfall  was  good  enough  to  come 
in  early,  in  order  to  show  me  some  comments  on  my  letters  in 
the  "  New  York  Times."  It  appears  the  papers  are  angry 
because  I  said  that  New  York  was  apathetic  when  I  landed, 
and  they  try  to  prove  I  was  wrong  by  showing  there  was  a 
"  glorious  outburst  of  Union  feeling,"  after  the  news  of  the 
fall  of  Sumter.  But  I  now  know  that  the  very  apathy  of 
which  I  spoke  was  felt  by  the  Government  of  Washington, 
and  was  most  weakening  and  embarrassing  to  them.  What 
would  not  the  value  of  "  the  glorious  outburst"  have  been,  had 
it  taken  place  before  the  Charleston  batteries  had  opened  on 
Sumter  —  when  the  Federal  flag,  for  example,  was  fired  on, 
flying  from  the  "  Star  of  the  West,"  or  when  Beauregard  cut 
off  supplies,  or  Bragg  threatened  Pickens,  or  the  first  shovel 
of  earth  was  thrown  up  in  hostile  battery  ?  But  no !  New 
York  was  then  engaged  in  discussing  State  rights,  and  in 
reading  articles  to  prove  the  new  Government  would  be  traitors 
if  they  endeavored  to  reinforce  the  Federal  forts,  or  were 
perusing  leaders  in  favor  of  the  Southern  Government. 
Haply,  they  may  remember  one,  not  so  many  weeks  old,  in 
which  the  "  New  York  Herald  "  compared  Jeff  Davis  and  his 
Cabinet  to  the  "  Great  Rail  Splitter,"  and  Seward,  and  Chase, 
and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  former  "  were  gentlemen  " 
• —  (a  matter  of  which  it  is  quite  incompetent  to  judge)  — 
"  and  would,  and  ought  to  succeed."  The  glorious  outburst  of 
"  Union  feeling  "  which  threatened  to  demolish  the  "  Herald  " 
office,  has  created  a  most  wonderful  change  in  the  views  of  the 
proprietor,  whose  diverse-eyed  vision  is  now  directed  solely  to 


FAREWELL  LEVEE.  183 

the  beauties  of  the  Union,  and  whose  faith  is  expressed  in  "  a 
hearty  adhesion  to  the  Government  of  our  country."  New 
York  must  pay  the  penalty  of  its  indifference,  and  bear  the 
consequences  of  listening  to  such  counsellors. 

Mr.  Deasy,  much  dilapidated,  returned  about  twelve  o'clock 
from  his  planter,  who  was  drunk  when  he  went  over,  and 
would  not  let  him  go  to  the  beaver-dam.  To  console  him,  the 
planter  stayed  up  all  night  drinking,  and  waking  him  up  at 
intervals,  that  he  might  refresh  him  with  a  glass  of  whiskey. 
This  man  was  well  off,  owned  land,  and  a  good  stock  of  slaves, 
but  he  must  have  been  a  "mean  white,"  who  had  raised  him 
self  in  the  world.  He  lived  in  a  three-roomed  wooden  cabin, 
and  in  one  of  the  rooms  he  kept  his  wife  shut  up  from  the 
stranger's  gaze.  One  of  his  negroes  was  unwell,  and  he  took 
Deasy  to  see  him.  The  result  of  his  examination  was,  "  Nig 
ger  !  I  guess  you  won't  live  more  than  an  hour."  His  diagnosis 
was  quite  correct. 

Before  my  departure  I  had  a  little  farewell  levee  —  Mr. 
Toombs,  Mr.  Browne,  Mr.  Benjamin,  Mr.  Walker,  Major 
Deas,  Col.  Pickett,  Major  Calhoun,  Captain  Ripley,  and 
others  —  who  were  exceedingly  kind  with  letters  of  introduc 
tion  and  offers  of  service.  Dined  as  usual  on  a  composite 
dinner  —  Southern  meat  and  poultry  bad  —  at  three  o'clock, 
and  at  four,  p.  M.,  drove  down  to  the  steep  banks  of  the  Alabama 
River,  where  the  castle-like  hulk  of  the  "  Southern  Republic  " 
was  waiting  to  receive  us.  I  bade  good-by  to  Montgomery 
without  regret.  The  native  people  were  not  very  attractive, 
and  the  city  has  nothing  to  make  up  for  their  deficiency,  but 
of  my  friends  there  I  must  always  retain  pleasant  memories, 
and,  indeed,  I  hope  some  day  I  shall  be  able  to  keep  my 
promise  to  return  and  see  more  of  the  Confederate  ministers 
and  their  chief. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  River  Alabama — Voyage  by  steamer  —  Selma — Our  captain 
and  his  slaves  —  "  Running  "  slaves  —  Negro  views  of  happiness 
Mobile  —  Hotel  —  The  city  —  Mr.  Forsyth. 

THE  vessel  was  nothing  more  than  a  vast  wooden  house,  of 
three  separate  stories,  floating  on  a  pontoon  which  upheld  the 
engine,  with  a  dining-hall  or  saloon  on  the  second  story  sur 
rounded  by  sleeping-berths,  and  a  nest  of  smaller  rooms  up 
stairs ;  on  the  metal  roof  was  a  "musical"  instrument  called 
a  "  calliope,"  played  like  a  piano  by  keys,  which  acted  on 
levers  and  valves,  admitting  steam  into  metal  cups,  where  it 
produced  the  requisite  notes,  —  high,  resonant,  and  not  un- 
pleasing  at  a  moderate  distance.  It  is  417  miles  to  Mobile; 
but  at  this  season  the  steamer  can  maintain  a  good  rate  of 
speed,  as  there  is  very  little  cotton  or  cargo  to  be  taken  on 
board  at  the  landings,  and  the  stream  is  full. 

The  river  is  about  200  yards  broad,  and  of  the  color  of 
chocolate  and  milk,  with  high,  steep,  wooded  banks,  rising  so 
much  above  the  surface  of  the  stream  that  a  person  on  the 
upper  deck  of  the  towering  "  Southern  Republic"  cannot  get  a 
glimpse  of  the  fields  and  country  beyond.  High  banks  and 
bluffs  spring  up  to  the  height  of  150  or  even  200  feet  above 
the  river,  the  breadth  of  which  is  so  uniform  as  give  the 
Alabama  the  appearance  of  a  canal,  only  relieved  by  sudden 
bends  and  rapid  curves.  The  surface  is  covered  with  masses 
of  drift  -  wood,  whole  trees,  and  small  islands  of  branches. 
Now  and  then  a  sharp,  black,  fang-like  projection  standing 
stiffly  in  the  current  gives  warning  of  a  snag,  but  the  helms 
man,  who  commands  the  whole  course  of  the  river,  from  an 
elevated  house  amidships  on  the  upper  deck,  can  see  these  in 
time  ;  and  at  night  pine-boughs  are  lighted  in  iron  cressets  at 
the  bows  to  illuminate  the  water. 

The  captain,  who  was  not  particular  whether  his  name  was 
spelt  Maher,  or  Meaher,  or  Meagher  (les  trois  se  disent),  was 
evidently  a  character, — perhaps  a  good  one.  One  with  a 


THE  "SOUTHERN  REPUBLIC."  185 

gray  eye  full  of  cunning  and  of  some  humor,  strongly  marked 
features,  and  a  very  Celtic  mouth  of  the  Kerry  type.  He 
soon  attached  himself  to  me,  and  favored  me  with  some  won 
derful  yarns,  which  I  hope  he  was  not  foolish  enough  to  think 
I  believed.  One  relating  to  a  wholesale  destruction  and  mas 
sacre  of  Indians,  he  narrated  with  evident  gusto.  Pointing 
to  one  of  the  bluffs,  he  said  that,  some  thirty  years  ago,  the 
whole  of  the  Indians  in  the  district  being  surrounded  by  the 
whites,  betook  themselves  to  that  spot,  and  remained  there 
without  any  means  of  escape,  till  they  were  quite  starved  out. 
So  they  sent  down  to  know  if  the  whites  would  let  them  go, 
and  it  was  agreed  that  they  should  be  permitted  to  move  down 
the  river  in  boats.  When  the  day  came,  and  they  were  all 
afloat,  the  whites  anticipated  the  boat-massacre  of  Nana  Sahib 
at  Cawnpore,  and  destroyed  the  helpless  red  skins.  Many 
hundreds  thus  perished,  and  the  whole  affair  was  very  much 
approved  of. 

The  value  of  land  on  the  sides  of  this  river  is  great,  as  it  • 
yields  nine  to  eleven  bales  of  cotton  to  the  acre,  —  worth  £10  / 
a  bale  at  present  prices.  The  only  evidences  of  this  wealth 
to  be  seen  by  us  consisted  of  the  cotton  sheds  on  the  top  of 
the  banks,  and  slides  of  timber,  with  steps  at  each  side  down 
to  the  landings,  so  constructed  that  the  cotton  bales  could  be 
shot  down  on  board  the  vessel.  These  shoots  and  staircases 
are  generally  protected  by  a  roof  of  planks,  and  lead  to  un 
known  regions  inhabited  by  niggers  and  their  masters,  the 
latter  all  talking  politics.  They  never  will,  never  can  be  con 
quered, —  nothing  on  earth  could  induce  them  to  go  back 
into  the  Union.  They  will  burn  every  bale  of  cotton,  and 
fire  every  house,  and  lay  waste  every  field  and  homestead, 
before  they  will  yield  to  the  Yankees.  And  so  they  talk 
through  the  glimmering  of  bad  cigars  for  hours. 

The  management  of  the  boat  is  dexterous, —  as  she  ap 
proaches  a  landing-place,  the  helm  is  put  hard  over,  to  the 
screaming  of  the  steam-pipe  and  the  wild  strains  of  "  Dixie  " 
floating  out  of  the  throats  of  the  calliope,  and  as  the  engines 
are  detached,  one  wheel  is  worked  forward,  and  the  other 
backs  water,  so  she  soon  turns  head  up  stream,  and  is  then 
gently  paddled  up  to  the  river  bank,  to  which  she  is  just  kept 
up  by  steam  —  the  plank  is  run  ashore,  and  the  few  passen 
gers  who  are  coming  in  or  out  are  lighted  on  their  way  by  the 
flames  of  pine  in  an  iron  basket,  swinging  above  the  bow  by  a 
long  pole.  Then  we  see  them  vanishing  into  black  darkness 


186  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

up  the  steps,  or  coming  down  clearer  and  clearer  till  they 
stand  in  the  full  blaze  of  the  beacon  which  casts  dark  shadows 
on  the  yellow  water.  The  air  is  glistening  with  fire-flies, 
which  dot  the  darkness  with  specks  and  points  of  flame,  just 
as  sparks  fly  through  the  embers  of  tinder  or  half-burnt  paper. 

Some  of  the  landings  were  by  far  more  important  than 
others.  There  were  some,  for  example,  where  an  iron  rail 
road  was  worked  down  the  bank  by  windlasses  for  hoisting 
up  goods ;  others  where  the  negroes  half-naked  leaped  ashore, 
and  rushing  at  piles  of  firewood,  tossed  them  on  board  to  feed 
the  engine,  which,  all  uncovered  and  open  to  the  lower  deck, 
lighted  up  the  darkness  by  the  glare  from  the  stoke-holes, 
which  cried  forever,  "  Give,  give  ! "  as  the  negroes  cease 
lessly  thrust  the  pine-beams  into  their  hungry  maws.  I  could 
understand  how  easily  a  steamer  can  "  burn  up,"  and  how 
hopeless  escape  would  be  under  such  circumstances.  The 
whole  framework  of  the  vessel  is  of  the  lightest  resinous  pine, 
so  raw  that  the  turpentine  oozes  out  through  the  paint ;  the 
hull  is  a  mere  shell.  If  the  vessel  once  caught  fire,  all  that 
could  be  done  would  be  to  turn  her  round,  and  run  her  to  the 
bank,  in  the  hope  of  holding  there  long  enough  to  enable  the 
people  to  escape  into  the  trees ;  but  if  she  were  not  near  a 
landing,  many  must  be  lost ;  as  the  bank  is  steep  down,  the 
vessel  cannot  be  run  aground ;  and  in  some  places  the  trees 
are  in  eight  and  ten  feet  of  water.  A  few  minutes  would  suf 
fice  to  set  the  vessel  in  a  blaze  from  stem  to  stern  ;  and  if  there 
were  cotton  on  board,  the  bales  would  burn  almost  like  pow 
der.  The  scene  at  each  landing  was  repeated,  with  few  vari 
ations,  ten  times  till  we  reached  Selma,  110  miles  distance,  at 
11.30  at  night. 

Selma,  which  is  connected  with  the  Tennessee  and  Missis 
sippi  rivers  by  railroad,  is  built  upon  a  steep,  lofty  bluff,  and 
the  lights  in  the  windows,  and  the  lofty  hotels  above  us,  put 
me  in  mind  of  the  old  town  of  Edinburgh,  seen  from  Prince's 
Street.  Beside  us  there  was  a  huge  storied  wharf,  so  that  our 
passengers  could  step  on  shore  from  any  deck  they  pleased. 
Here  Mr.  Deasy,  being  attacked  by  illness,  became  alarmed 
at  the  idea  of  continuing  his  journey  without  any  opportunity 
of  medical  assistance,  and  went  on  shore. 

May  10th.  —  The  cabin  of  one  of  these  steamers,  in  the 
month  of  May,  is  not  favorable  to  sleep.  The  wooden  beams 
of  the  engines  creak  and  scream  "  consumedly,"  and  the  great 
engines  themselves  throb  as  if  they  would  break  through  their 


ON  BOARD  THE  STEAMER.  187 

thin,  pulse  covers  of  pine,  —  and  the  whistle  sounds,  and  the 
calliope  shrieks  out  "  Dixie  "  incessantly.  So,  when  I  was  up 
and  dressed,  breakfast  was  over,  and  I  had  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  the  slaves  on  board,  male  and  female,  acting  as  stew 
ards  and  stewardesses,  at  their  morning  meal,  which  they  took 
with  much  good  spirits  and  decorum.  They  were  nicely 
dressed  —  clean  and  neat.  I  was  forced  to  admit  to  myself 
that  their  Ashantee  grandsires  and  grandmothers,  or  their 
Kroo  and  Dahomey  progenitors  were  certainly  less  comforta 
ble  and  well  clad,  and  that  these  slaves  had  other  social  ad 
vantages,  though  I  could  not  recognize  the  force  of  the  Bishop 
of  Georgia's  assertion,  that  from  slavery  must  come  the  sole 
hope  of,  and  machinery  for,  the  evangelization  of  Africa.  I 
confess  I  would  not  give  much  for  the  influence  of  the  stew 
ards  and  stewardesses  in  Christianizing  the  blacks. 

The  river,  the  scenery,  and  the  scenes  were  just  the  same 
as  yesterday's  —  high  banks,  cotton-slides,  wooding  stations, 
cane  brakes  —  and  a  very  miserable  negro  population,  if  the 
specimens  of  women  and  children  at  the  landings  fairly  repre 
sented  the  mass  of  the  slaves.  They  were  in  strong  contrast 
to  the  comfortable,  well-dressed  domestic  slaves  on  board,  and 
it  can  well  be  imagined  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  the 
classes,  and  that  those  condemned  to  work  in  the  open  fields 
must  suffer  exceedingly. 

A  passenger  told  us  the  captain's  story.  A  number  of 
planters,  the  narrator  among  them,  subscribed  a  thousand  dol 
lars  each  to  get  up  a  vessel  for  the  purpose  of  running  a  cargo 
of  slaves,  with  the  understanding  they  were  to  pay  so  much 
for  the  vessel,  and  so  much  per  head  if  she  succeeded,  and  so 
much  if  she  was  taken  or  lost.  The  vessel  made  her  voyage 
to  the  coast,  was  laden  with  native  Africans,  and  in  due  time 
made  her  appearance  off  Mobile.  The  collector  heard  of  her, 
but,  oddly  enough,  the  sheriff  was  not  about  at  the  time,  the 
United  States  Marshal  was  away,  and  as  the  vessel  could  not 
be  seen  next  morning,  it  was  fair  to  suppose  she  had  gone  up 
the  river,  or  somewhere  or  another.  But  it  so  happened  that 
Captain  Maher,  then  commanding  a  river  steamer  called  the 
Czar  (a  name  once  very  appropriate  for  the  work,  but  since  the 
serf  emancipation  rather  out  of  place),  found  himself  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  brig  about  nightfall ;  next  morning,  in 
deed,  the  Czar  was  at  her  moorings  in  the  river  ;  but  Captain 
Maher  began  to  grow  rich,  he  had  fine  negroes  fresh  run  on 
his  land,  and  bought  fresh  acres,  and  finally  built  the  "  South- 


188  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

era  Republic."  The  planters  asked  him  for  their  share  of  the 
slaves.  Captain  Maher  laughed  pleasantly  ;  he  did  not  under 
stand  what  they  meant.  If  he  had  done  anything  wrong,  they 
had  their  legal  remedy.  They  were  completely  beaten  ;  for 
they  could  not  have  recourse  to  the  tribunals  in  a  case  which 
rendered  them  liable  to  capital  punishment.  And  so  Captain 
Maher,  as  an  act  of  grace,  gave  them  a  few  old  niggers,  and 
kept  the  rest  of  the  cargo. 

It  was  worth  while  to  see  the  leer  with  which  he  listened  to 
this  story  about  himself.  "  Wall  now  !  You  think  them  niggers 
I've  abord  came  from  Africa  !  I'll  show  you.  Jist  come  up 
here,  Bully  !  "  A  boy  of  some  twelve  years  of  age,  stout,  fat, 
nearly  naked,  came  up  to  us  ;  his  color  was  jet  black,  his  wool 
close  as  felt,  his  cheeks  were  marked  with  regular  parallel 
scars,  and  his  teeth  very  white,  looked  as  if  they  had  been 
filed  to  a  point,  his  belly  was  slightly  protuberant,  and  his 
chest  was  marked  with  tracings  of  tattoo  marks. 

"  What's  your  name,  sir  ?  " 

"  My  name  Bully." 

"  Where  were  you  born  ?  " 

"  Me  born  Sout  Karliner,  sar ! ' 

"  There,  you  see  he  wasn't  taken  from  Africa,"  exclaimed 
the  Captain,  knowingly.  "  I've  a  lot  of  these  black  South 
Caroliny  niggers  abord,  haven't  I,  Bully  ?  " 

"  Yas,  sar." 

"  Are  you  happy,  Bully  ?  " 

"  Yas,  sar." 

"  Show  how  you're  happy." 

Here  the  boy  rubbed  his  stomach,  and  grinning  with  delight, 
said,  "  Yummy  !  yummy  !  plenty  belly  full." 

"  That's  what  I  call  a  real  happy  feelosophical  chap,"  quoth 
the  Captain.  "  I  guess  you've  got  a  lot  in  your  country  can't 
pat  their  stomachs  and  say,  '  yummy,  yummy,  plenty  belly 

"  Where  did  he  get  those  marks  on  his  face  ?  " 

"  Oh,  them  ?  Wall,  it's  a  way  them  nigger  women  has  of 
marking  their  children  to  know  them  ;  isn't  it,  Bully  ?  " 

"  Yas,  sar  !  me  'spose  so  ! " 

"  And  on  his  chest  ?  " 

"  Wall,  r'ally  I  do  b'l'eve  them's  marks  agin  the  smallpox." 

"  Why  are  his  teeth  filed  ?  " 

"  Ah,  there  now !  You'd  never  have  guessed  it ;  Bully- 
done  that  himself,  for  the  greater  ease  of  biting  his  vittels." 


MOBILE.  189 

In  fact,  the  lad,  and  a  good  many  of  the  hands,  were  the 
results  of  Captain  Maher's  little  sail  in  the  Czar. 

"  We're  obleeged  to  let  'em  in  some  times  to  keep  up  the 
balance  agin  the  niggers  you  run  into  Canaydy." 

From  1848  to  1852  there  were  no  slaves  run;  but  since 
the  migrations  to  Canada  and  the  personal  liberty  laws,  it  has 
been  found  profitable  to  run  them.  There  is  a  bucolic  ferocity 
about  these  Southern  people  which  will  stand  them  good  stead 
in  the  shock  of  battle.  How  the  Spartans  would  have  fought 
against  any  barbarians  who  came  to  emancipate  their  slaves, 
or  the  Romans  have  smitten  those  who  would  manumit  slave 
and  creditor  together ! 

To-night,  on  the  lower  deck,  amid  wood  fagots,  and  barrels, 
a  dance  of  negroes  was  arranged  by  an  enthusiast,  who  desired 
to  show  how  "  happy  they  were."  That  is  the  favorite  theme 
of  the  Southerners  ;  the  gallant  Captain  Maher  becomes  quite 
eloquent  when  he  points  to  Bully's  prominent  "  yummy,"  and 
descants  on  the  misery  of  his  condition  if  he  had  been  left  to 
the  precarious  chances  of  obtaining  such  developments  in  his 
native  land ;  then  turns  a  quid,  and,  as  if  uttering  some  sacred 
refrain  to  the  universal  hymn  of  the  South,  says,  "  Yes,  sir, 
they're  the  happiest  people  on  the  face  of  the  airth  ! " 

There  was  a  fiddler,  and  also  a  banjo-player,  who  played 
uncouth  music  to  the  clumsiest  of  dances,  which  it  would  be 
insulting  to  compare  to  the  worst  Irish  jig ;  and  the  men  with 
immense  gravity  and  great  effusion  of  sudor,  shuffled  and  cut 
and  heeled  and  buckled  to  each  other  with  an  overwhelming 
solemnity,  till  the  rum-bottle  warmed  them  up  to  the  lighter 
graces  of  the  dance,  when  they  became  quite  overpowering. 
"  Yes,  sir,  jist  look  at  them,  how  they're  enjoying  it ;  they're 
the  happiest  people  on  the  face  of  the  airth/''  When  "  wood 
ing  "  and  firing  up,  they  don't  seem  to  be  in  the  possession  of 
the  same  exquisite  felicity. 

May  llth.  —  At  early  dawn  the  steamer  went  its  way 
through  a  broad  bay  of  snags,  bordered  with  drift-wood,  and 
with  steam-trumpet  and  calliope  announced  its  arrival  at  the 
quay  of  Mobile,  which  presented  a  fringe  of  tall  warehouses, 
and  shops  along-side,  over  which  were  names  indicating  Scotch, 
Irish,  English,  many  Spanish,  German,  Italian,  and  French 
owners.  Captain  Maher  at  once  set  off  to  his  plantation, 
and  we  descended  the  stories  of  the  walled  castle  to  the  beach, 
and  walked  on  towards  the  "  Battle  House,"  so  called  from 
the  name  of  its  proprietor,  for  Mobile  has  not  yet  had  its 


190  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

fight,  like  New  Orleans.  The  quays,  which  usually,  as  we 
were  told,  are  lined  with  stately  hulls  and  a  forest  of  masts, 
were  deserted ;  although  the  port  was  not  actually  blockaded, 
there  were  squadrons  of  the  United  States  ships  at  Pensacola, 
on  the  east,  and  at  New  Orleans,  on  the  west. 

The  hotel,  a  fine  building  of  the  American  stamp,  was  the 
seat  of  a  Vigilance  Committee,  and  as  we  put  down  our  names 
in  the  book,  they  were  minutely  inspected  by  some  gentlemen 
who  came  out  of  the  parlor.  It  was  fortunate  they  did  not 
find  traces  of  Lincolnism  about  us,  as  it  appeared  by  the  papers 
that  they  were  busy  deporting  "  Abolitionists "  after  certain 
preliminary  processes  supposed  to  — 

"  Give  them  a  rise,  and  open  their  eyes 
To  a  sense  of  their  situation." 

The  citizens  were  busy  in  drilling,  marching,  and  drum-beat 
ing,  and  the  Confederate  flag  flew  from  every  spire  and 
steeple.  The  day  was  so  hot,  that  it  was  little  more  inviting 
to  go  out  in  the  sun  than  it  would  be  in  the  dogdays  at 
Malaga,  to  which,  by  the  by,  Mobile  bears  some  "kinder- 
sorter"  resemblance;  but,  nevertheless,  I  sallied  forth,  and 
had  a  drive  on  a  shell  road  by  the  head  of  the  bay,  where 
there  were  pretty  villarettes  in  charming  groves  of  magnolia, 
orange-trees,  and  lime-oaks.  Wide  streets  of  similar  houses 
spring  out  to  meet  the  country  through  sandy  roads  ;  some 
worthy  of  Streatham  or  Belham,  and  all  surrounded  in  such 
vegetation  as  Kew  might  envy. 

Many  Mobilians  called,  and  among  them  the  mayor,  Mr. 
Forsyth,  in  whom  I  recognized  the  most  remarkable  of  the 
Southern  Commissioners  I  had  met  at  Washington.  Mr. 
Magee,  the  acting  British  Consul,  was  also  good  enough  to 
wait  upon  me,  with  offers  of  any  assistance  in  his  power.  I 
hear  he  has  most  difficult  questions  to  deal  with,  arising  out 
of  the  claims  of  distressed  British  subjects,  and  disputed 
nationality.  In  the  evening,  the  Consul  and  Dr.  Nott,  a 
savant,  and  physician  of  Mobile,  well  known  to  the  ethnolo 
gists  for  his  work  on  the  "  Types  of  Mankind,"  written  con 
jointly  with  the  late  Mr.  Gliddon,  dined  with  me,  and  I 
learned  from  them  that,  notwithstanding  the  intimate  commer. 
cial  relations  between  Mobile  and  the  great  Northern  citi«es, 
the  people  here  are  of  the  most  ultra-secessionist  doctrines. 
The  wealth  and  manhood  of  the  city  will  be  devoted  to  repel 
the  "  Lincolnite  mercenaries  "  to  the  last. 


MOBILE.  191 

After  dinner  we  walked  through  the  city,  which  abounds  in 
oyster  saloons,  drinking-houses,  lager-bier  and  wine  shops,  and 
gambling  and  dancing  places.  The  market  was  well  worthy 
of  a  visit  —  something  like  St.  John's  at  Liverpool  on  a  Sat 
urday  night,  crowded  with  negroes,  mulattoes,  quadroons,  and 
mestizos  of  all  sorts,  Spanish,  Italian,  and  French,  speaking 
their  own  tongues,  or  a  quaint  lingua  franca,  and  dressed  in 
very  striking  and  pretty  costumes.  The  fruit  and  vegetable 
stalls  displayed  very  fine  produce,  and  some  staples,  remark-* 
able  for  novelty,  ugliness,  and  goodness.  After  our  stroll 
we  went  into  one  of  the  great  oyster  saloons,  and  in  a  room 
up-stairs  had  opportunity  of  tasting  those  great  bivalvians 
in  the  form  of  natural  fish  puddings,  fried  in  batter,  roasted, 
stewed,  devilled,  broiled-,  and  in  many  other  ways,  plus  raw. 
I  am  bound  to  observe  that  the  Mobile  people  ate  them  as  if 
there  was  no  blockade,  and  as  though  oysters  were  a  specific 
for  political  indigestions  and  civil  wars  ;  a  fierce  Marseillais 
are  they  —  living  in  the  most  foreign-looking  city  I  have  yet 
seen  in  the  States.  My  private  room  in  the  hotel  was  large, 
well-lighted  with  gas,  and  exceedingly  well  furnished  in  the 
German  fashion,  with  French  pendule  and  mirrors.  The 
charge  for  a  private  room  varies  from  £1  to  £l  5*.  a  day  ;  the 
bedroom  and  board  are  charged  separately,  from  10-s.  Qd.  to 
12s.  6d.  a  day,  but  meals  served  in  the  private  room  are  all 
charged  extra,  and  heavily  too.  Exclusiveness  is  an  aristo 
cratic  taste  which  must  be  paid  for. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Visit  to  Forts  Gaines  and  Morgan  —  War  to  the  knife  the  cry  of  the 
South  —  The  "  State  "  and  the  "  States  " — Bay  of  Mobile  —  The 
forts  and  their  inmates  —  Opinions  as  to  an  attack  on  Washington 
—  Rumors  of  actual  war. 

May  12th.  —  Mr.  Forsyth  had  been  good  enough  to  invite  me 
to  an  excursion  down  the  Bay  of  Mobile,  to  the  forts  built  by 
Uncle  Sam  and  his  French  engineers  to  sink  his  Britishers  — 
now  turned  by  "  C.  S.  A."  against  the  hated  Stars  and  Stripes. 
The  mayor  and  the  principal  merchants  and  many  politicians 
—  and  are  not  all  men  politicians  in  America  ?  —  formed  the 
party.  If  any  judgment  of  men's  acts  can  be  formed  from 
their  words,  the  Mobilites,  who  are  the  representatives  of  the 
third  greatest  part  of  the  United  States,  will  perish  ere  they 
submit  to  the  Yankees  and  people  of  New  York.  I  have 
now  been  in  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Ala 
bama,  and  in  none  of  these  great  States  have  I  found  the 
least  indication  of  the  Union  sentiment,  or  of  the  attachment 
for  the  Union  which  Mr.  Seward  always  assumes  to  exist  in 
the  South.  If  there  were  any  considerable  amount  of  it,  I 
was  in  a  position  as  a  neutral  to  have  been  aware  of  its  exist 
ence. 

Those  who  might  have  at  one  time  opposed  secession,  have 
now  bowed  their  heads  to  the  majesty  of  the  majority  ;  and 
with  the  cowardice,  which  is  the  result  of  the  irresponsible 
and  cruel  tyranny  of  the  multitude,  hasten  to  swell  the  cry  of 
revolution.  But  the  multitude  are  the  law  in  the  United  States. 
"  There's  a  divinity  doth  hedge  "  the  mob  here,  which  is  omni 
potent  and  all  good.  The  majority  in  each  State  determines  its 
political  status  according  to  Southern  views.  The  Northerners 
are  endeavoring  to  maintain  that  the  majority  of  the  people  in 
the  mass  of  the  States  generally  shall  regulate  the  point  for 
each  State  individually  and  collectively.  If  there  be  any  party 
in  the  Southern  States  which  thinks  such  an  attempt  justifiable, 


FORT  GAINES,  FORT  MORGAN.  193 

it  sits  silent  and  fearful  and  hopeless  in  darkness  and  sorrow 
hid  from  the  light  of  day.  General  Scott,  who  was  a  short  time 
ago  written  of  in  the  usual  inflated  style,  to  which  respectable 
military  mediocrity  and  success  are  entitled  in  the  States,  is 
now  reviled  by  the  Southern  papers  as  an  infamous  hoary  trai 
tor  and  the  like.  If  an  officer  prefers  his  allegiance  to  the 
United  States  flag,  and  remains  in  the  Federal  service  after 
his  State  has  gone  out,  his  property  is  liable  to  confiscation  by 
the  State  authorities,  and  his  family  and  kindred  are  exposed 
to  the  gravest  suspicion,  and  must  prove  their  loyalty  by  ex 
tra  zeal  in  the  cause  of  Secession. 

Our  merry  company  comprised  naval  and  military  officers 
in  the  service  of  the  Confederate  States,  journalists,  politi 
cians,  professional  men,  merchants,  and  not  one  of  them  had 
a  word  but  of  hate  and  execration  for  the  North.  The  Brit 
ish  and  German  settlers  are  quite  as  vehement  as  the  natives 
in  upholding  States'  rights,  and  among  the  most  ardent  up 
holders  of  slavery  are  the  Irish  proprietors  and  mercantile 
classes. 

The  Bay  of  Mobile,  which  is  about  thirty  miles  long,  with 
a  breadth  varying  from  three  to  seven  miles,  is  formed  by  the 
outfall  of  the  Alabama  and  of  the  Tombigbee  Rivers,  and  is 
shallow  and  dangerous,  full  of  banks  and  trees,  embedded  in 
the  sands  ;  but  all  large  vessels  lie  at  the  entrance  between 
Fort  Morgan  and  Fort  Gaines,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  mas 
ters,  who  are  thus  spared  the  trouble  with  their  crews  which 
occurs  in  the  low  haunts  of  a  maritime  town.  The  cotton  is 
sent  down  in  lighters,  which  employ  many  hands  at  high 
wages.  The  shores  are  low  wooded,  and  are  dotted  here  and 
there  with  pretty  villas  ;  but  present  no  attractive  scenery. 

The  sea-breeze  somewhat  alleviated  the  fierceness  of  the 
sun,  which  was  however  too  hot  to  be  quite  agreeable.  Our 
steamer,  crowded  to  the  sponsons,  made  little  way  against  the 
tide ;  but  at  length,  after  nearly  four  hours'  sail,  we  hauled  up 
along-side  a  jetty  at  Fort  Gaines,  which  is  on  the  right  hand  or 
western  exit  of  the  harbor,  and  would  command,  were  it  fin 
ished,  the  light-draft  channel ;  it  is  now  merely  a  shell  of 
masonry,  but  Colonel  Hardee,  who  has  charge  of  the  defences 
of  Mobile,  told  me  that  they  would  finish  it  speedily. 

The  Colonel  is  an  agreeable,  delicate-looking  man,  scarcely 

of  middle  age,  and  is  well  known  in  the  States  as  the  author 

of  "  The  Tactics,"  which  is,  however,  merely  a  translation  of 

the  French  manual  of  arms.     He  does  not  appear  to  be  pos- 

9 


194  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

sessed  of  any  great  energy  or  capacity,  but  is,  no  doubt,  a 
respectable  officer. 

Upon  landing  we  found  a  small  body  of  men  on  guard  in 
the  fort.  A  few  cannon  of  moderate  calibre  were  mounted  on 
the  sand-hills  and  on  the  beach.  We  entered  the  unfinished 
work,  and  were  received  with  a  salute.  The  men  felt  difficulty 
in  combining  discipline  with  citizenship.  They  were  "bored" 
with  their  sand-hill,  and  one  of  them  asked  me  when  I  "  thought 
them  damned  Yankees  were  coming.  He  wanted  to  touch  off 
a  few  pills  he  knew  would  be  good  for  their  complaint."  I 
must  say  I  could  sympathize  with  the  feelings  of  the  young 
officer  who  said  he  would  sooner  have  a  day  with  the  Lincoln- 
ites,  than  a  week  with  the  mosquitoes  for  which  this  locality  is 
famous. 

From  Fort  Gaines  the  steamer  ran  across  to  Fort  Morgan, 
about  three  miles  distant,  passing  in  its  way  seven  vessels, 
mostly  British,  at  anchor,  where  hundreds  may  be  seen,  I  am 
told,  during  the  cotton  season.  This  work  has  a  formidable 
sea  face,  and  may  give  great  trouble  to  Uncle  Sam,  when  he 
wants  to  visit  his  loving  subjects  in  Mobile  in  his  gunboats.  It 
is  the  work  of  Bernard,  I  presume,  and  like  most  of  his  designs 
has  a  weak  long  base  towards  the  land ;  but  it  is  provided  with 
a  wet  ditch  and  drawbridge,  with  derni  lunes  covering  the  cur 
tains,  and  has  a  regular  bastioned  trace.  It  has  one  row  of 
casemates,  armed  with  thirty-two  and  forty-two  pounders.  The 
barbette  guns  are  eight-inch  and  ten-inch  guns;  the  external 
works  at  the  salients,  are  armed  with  howitzers  and  field-pieces, 
and  as  we  crossed  the  drawbridge,  a  salute  was  fired  from  a 
field  battery,  on  a  flanking  bastion,  in  our  honor. 

Inside  the  work  was  crammed  with  men,  some  of  whom 
slept  in  the  casemates  —  others  in  tents  in  the  parade  grounds 
and  enceinte  of  the  fort.  They  were  Alabama  Volunteers, 
and  as  sturdy  a  lot  of  fellows  as  ever  shouldered  musket ; 
dressed  in  homespun  coarse  gray  suits,  with  blue  and  yellow 
worsted  facings  and  stripes  —  to  European  eyes  not  very  re 
spectful  to  their  officers,  but  very  obedient,  I  am  told,  and  very 
peremptorily  ordered  about,  as  I  heard. 

There  were  700  or  800  men  in  the  work,  and  an  undue 
proportion  of  officers,  all  of  whom  were  introduced  to  the 
strangers  in  turn.  The  officers  were  a  very  gentlemanly, 
nice-looking  set  of  young  fellows,  and  several  of  them  had 
just  come  over  from  Europe  to  take  up  arms  for  their  State. 
1  forget  the  name  of  the  officer  in  command,  though  I  cannot 


NEWS   FROM  THE  NORTH.  195 

forget  his  courtesy,  nor  an  excellent  lunch  he  gave  us  in  his 
casemate  after  a  hot  walk  round  the  parapets,  and  some  prac 
tice  with  solid  shot  from  the  barbette  guns,  which  did  not  tend 
to  make  me  think  much  of  the  greatly-be-praised  Columbiads. 

One  of  the  officers  named  Maury,  a  relative  of  "  deep-sea 
Maury,"  struck  me  as  an  ingenious  and  clever  officer ;  the 
utmost  harmony,  kindliness,  and  devotion  to  the  cause  prevailed 
among  the  garrison,  from  the  chief  down  to  the  youngest  en 
sign.  In  its  present  state  the  Fort  would  suffer  exceedingly 
from  a  heavy  bombardment  —  the  magazines  would  be  in 
danger,  and  the  traverses  are  inadequate.  All  the  barracks 
and  wooden  buildings  should  be  destroyed  if  they  wish  to 
avoid  the  fate  of  Sumter. 

On  our  cruise  homewards,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  cold  din 
ner,  we  had  the  inevitable  discussion  of  the  Northern  and 
Southern  contest.  Mr.  Forsyth,  the  editor  and  proprietor  of 
the  "  Mobile  Register,"  is  impassioned  for  the  cause,  though 
he  was  not  at  one  time  considered  a  pure  Southerner.  There 
is  difference  of  opinion  relative  to  an  attack  on  Washington. 
General  St.  George  Cooke,  commanding  the  army  of  Virginia 
on  the  Potomac,  declares  there  is  no  intention  of  attacking  it, 
or  any  place  outside  the  limits  of  that  free  and  sovereign  State. 
But  then  the  conduct  of  the  Federal  Government  in  Mary 
land  is  considered  by  the  more  fiery  Southerners  to  justify  the 
expulsion  of  "  Lincoln  and  his  Myrmidons,"  "  the  Border 
Ruffians  and  Cassius  M.  Clay,"  from  the  capital.  Butler  has 
seized  on  the  Relay  House,  on  the  junction  of  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad,  with  the  rail  from  Washington,  and  has 
displayed  a  good  deal  of  vigor  since  his  arrival  at  Annapolis. 
He  is  a  Democrat,  and  a  celebrated  criminal  lawyer  in  Massa 
chusetts.  Troops  are  pouring  into  New  York,  and  are  pre 
paring  to  attack  Alexandria,  on  the  Virginia  side,  below 
Washington  and  the  Navy  Yard,  where  a  large  Confederate 
flag  is  flying,  which  can  be  seen  from  the  President's  windows 
in  the  White  House. 

There  is  a  secret  soreness  even  here  at  the  small  effect 
produced  in  England  compared  with  what  they  anticipated  by 
the  attack  on  Sumter;  but  hopes  are  excited  that  Mr.  Greg 
ory,  who  was  travelling  through  the  States  some  time  ago, 
will  have  a  strong  party  to  support  his  forthcoming  motion 
for  a  recognition  of  the  South.  The  next  conflict  which  takes 
place  will  be  more  bloody  than  that  at  Sumter.  The  gladia 
tors  are  approaching  —  Washington,  Annapolis,  Pennsylvania 


196  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

are  militarj  departments,  each  with  a  chief  and  Staff,  to  which 
is  now  added  that  of  Ohio,  under  Major  G.  B.  McClellan, 
Major-General  of  Ohio  Volunteers  at  Cincinnati.  The  au 
thorities  on  each  side  are  busy  administering  oaths  of  alle 
giance. 

The  harbor  of  Charleston  is  reported  to  be  under  blockade 
by  the  Niagara  steam  frigate  ;  and  a  force  of  United  States 
troops  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  under  Captain  Lyon,  has  at 
tacked  and  dispersed  a  body  of  State  Militia  under  one  Briga 
dier-General  Frost,  to  the  intense  indignation  of  all  Mobile. 
The  argument  is,  that  Missouri  gave  up  the  St.  Louis  Arsenal 
to  the  United  States  Government,  and  could  take  it  back  if 
she  pleased,  and  was  certainly  competent  to  prevent  the 
United  States  troops  stirring  beyond  the  Arsenal. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Pensacola  and  Fort  Pickens  — Neutrals  and  their  friends  —  Coasting 
—  Sharks  —  The  blockading  fleet  —  The  stars  and  stripes,  and 
stars  and  bars  —  Domestic  feuds  caused  by  the  war  —  Captain 
Adams  and  General  Bragg  — Interior  of  Fort  Pickens. 

May  13th.  —  I  was  busy  making  arrangements  to  get  to 
Pensacola,  and  Fort  Pickens,  all  day.  The  land  journey  was 
represented  as  being  most  tedious  and  exceedingly  comfortless 
in  all  respects,  through  a  waste  of  sand,  in  which  we  ran  the 
chance  of  being  smothered  or  lost.  And  then  I  had  set  my 
mind  on  seeing  Fort  Pickens  as  well  as  Pensacola,  and  it 
would  be  difficult,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  to  get  across  from  an 
enemy's  camp  to  the  Federal  fortress,  and  then  return  again. 
The  United  States  squadron  blockaded  the  port  of  Pensacola, 
but  I  thought  it  likely  they  would  permit  me  to  run  in  to  visit 
Fort  Pickens,  and  that  the  Federals  would  allow  me  to  sail 
thence  across  to  General  Bragg,  as  they  might  be  assured  I 
would  not  communicate  any  information  of  what  I  had  seen  in 
my  character  as  neutral  to  any  but  the  journal  in  Europe, 
which  I  represented,  and  in  the  interests  of  which  I  was 
bound  to  see  and  report  all  that  I  could  as  to  the  state  of  both 
parties.  It  was,  at  all  events,  worth  while  to  make  the  at 
tempt,  and  after  a  long  search  I  heard  of  a  schooner  which 
was  ready  for  the  voyage  at  a  reasonable  rate,  all  things  con 
sidered. 

Mr.  Forsyth  asked  if  I  had  any  objection  to  take  with  me 
three  gentlemen  of  Mobile,  who  were  anxious  to  be  of  the 
party,  as  they  wanted  to  see  their  friends  at  Pensacola,  where 
it  was  believed  a  "  fight "  was  to  come  off  immediately.  Since 
I  came  South  I  have  seen  the  daily  announcement  that  **  Braxton 
Bragg  is  ready,"  and  his  present  state  of  preparation  must  be 
beyond  all  conception.  But  here  was  a  difficulty.  I  told  Mr. 
Forsyth  that  I  could  not  possibly  assent  to  any  persons  coming 
with  me  who  were  not  neutrals,  or  prepared  to  adhere  to  the 
obligations  of  neutrals.  There  was  a  suggestion  that  I  should 
say  these  gentlemen  were  my  friends,  but  as  I  had  only  seen 


198  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

two  of  them  on  board  the  steamer  yesterday,  I  could  not  ac 
cede  to  that  idea.  "  Then  if  you  are  asked  if  Mr.  Ravesies 
is  your  friend,  you  will  say  he  is  not."  "  Certainly."  "  But 
surely  you  don't  wish  to  have  Mr.  Ravesies  hanged  ?  "  "  No, 
I  do  not,  and  I  shall  do  nothing  to  cause  him  to  be  hanged  ; 
but  if  he  meets  that  fate  by  his  own  act,  I  can't  help  it.  1 
will  not  allow  him  to  accompany  me  under  false  pretences." 

At  last  it  was  agreed  that  Mr.  Ravesies  and  his  friends,  Mr. 
Bartre  and  Mr.  Lynes,  being  in  no  way  employed  by  or  con 
nected  with  the  Confederate  Government,  should  have  a  place 
in  the  little  schooner  which  we  had  picked  out  at  the  quayside 
and  hired  for  the  occasion,  and  go  on  the  voyage  with  the  plain, 
understanding  that  they  were  to  accept  all  the  consequences  of 
being  citizens  of  Mobile. 

Mr.  Forsyth,  Mr.  Ravesies,  and  a  couple  of  gentlemen 
dined  with  me  in  the  evening.  After  dinner.,  Mr.  Forsyth, 
who,  as  mayor  of  the  town,  is  the  Executive  of  the  Vigilance 
Committee,  took  a  copy  of  "  Harper's  Illustrated  Paper," 
which  is  a  very  poor  imitation  of  the  "  London  Illustrated 
News/'^and  called  my  attention  to  the  announcement  that  Mr. 
Moses,  their  special  artist,  was  travelling  with  me  in  the 
South,  as  well  as  to  an  engraving,  which  purported  to  be  by 
Moses  aforesaid.  I  could  only  say  that  I  knew  nothing  of  the 
young  designer,  except  what  he  told  me,  and  that  he  led  me 
to  believe  he  was  furnishing  sketches  to  the  "  London  News." 
As  he  was  in  the  hotel,  though  he  did  not  live  with  me,  I  sent 
for  him,  and  the  young  gentleman,  who  was  very  pale  and 
agitated  on  being  shown  the  advertisement  and  sketch,  declared 
that  he  had  renounced  all  connection  with  Harper,  that  he 
was  sketching  for  the  "  Illustrated  London  News,"  and  that 
the  advertisement  was  contrary  to  fact,  and  utterly  unknown 
to  him ;  and  so  he  was  let  go  forth,  and  retired  uneasily. 
After  dinner  I  went  to  the  Bienville  Club.  "  Rule  No.  1  "  is, 
"  No  gentleman  shall  be  admitted  in  a  state  of  intoxication." 
The  club  very  social,  very  small,  and  very  hospitable. 

Later  paid  my  respects  to  Mrs.  Forsyth,  whom  I  found 
anxiously  waiting  for  news  of  her  young  son,  who  had  gone 
off  to  join  the  Confederate  Army.  She  told  me  that  nearly 
all  the  ladies  in  Mobile  are  engaged  in  making  cartridges, 
and  in  preparing  lint  or  clothing  for  the  army.  Not  the 
smallest  fear  is  entertained  for  the  swarming  black  population. 

May  14tth.  —  Down  to  our  yacht,  the  Diana,  which  is  to  be 
ready  this  afternoon,  and  saw  her  cleared  out  a  little  —  a 


THE  NIGHT  CRUISE.  199 

broad-beamed,  flat-floored  schooner,  some  fifty  tons  burden, 
with  a  centre-board,  badly  calked,  and  dirty  enough  —  unfa 
miliar  with  paint.  The  skipper  was  a  long-legged,  ungainly 
young  fellow,  with  long  hair  and  an  inexpressive  face,  just  re 
lieved  by  the  twinkle  of  a  very  "  Yankee  "  eye  ;  but  that  was 
all  of  the  hated  creature  about  him,  for  a  more  earnest  seceder 
I  never  heard. 

His  crew  consisted  of  three  rough,  mechanical  sort  of  men 
and  a  negro  cook.  Having  freighted  the  vessel  with  a  small 
stock  of  stores,  a  British  flag,  kindly  lent  by  the  acting  Con 
sul,  Mr.  Magee,  and  a  tablecloth  to  serve  as  a  flag  of  truce, 
our  party,  consisting  of  the  gentlemen  previously  named,  Mr. 
Ward,  and  the  young  artist,  weighed  from  the  quay  of  Mobile 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  evening,  with  the  manifest  approbation 
of  the  small  crowd  who  had  assembled  to  see  us  off,  the  rumor 
having  spread  through  the  town  that  we  were  bound  to  see 
the  great  fight.  The  breeze  was  favorable  and  steady  ;  at 
nine  o'clock,  p.  M.,  the  lights  of  Fort  Morgan  were  on  our 
port  beam,  and  for  some  time  we  were  expecting  to  see  the 
flash  of  a  gun,  as  the  skipper  confidently  declared  they  would 
never  allow  us  to  pass  unchallenged. 

The  darkness  of  the  night  might  possibly  have  favored  us, 
or  the  sentries  were  remiss ;  at  all  events,  we  were  soon  creep 
ing  through  the  "  Swash,"  which  is  a  narrow  channel  over 
the  bar,  through  which  our  skipper  worked  us  by  means  of  a 
sounding  pole.  The  air  was  delightful,  and  blew  directly  off 
the  low  shore,  in  a  line  parallel  to  which  we  were  moving. 
When  the  evening  vapors  passed  away,  the  stars  shone  out 
brilliantly,  and  though  the  wind  was  strong,  and  sent  us  at  a 
good  eight  knots  through  the  water,  there  was  scarcely  a  rip 
ple  on  the  sea.  Our  course  lay  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of 
the  shore,  which  looked  like  a  white  ribbon  fringed  with  fire, 
from  the  ceaseless  play  of  the  phosphorescent  surf.  Above  this 
belt  of  sand  rose  the  black,  jagged  outlines  of  a  pine  forest, 
through  which  steal  immense  lagoons  and  marshy  creeks. 

Driftwood  and  trees  strew  the  beach,  and  from  Fort  Mor 
gan,  for  forty  miles,  to  the  entrance  of  Pensacola,  not  a  human 
habitation  disturbs  the  domain  sacred  to  alligators,  serpents, 
pelicans,  and  wild-fowl.  Some  of  the  lagoons,  like  the  Per- 
dida,  swell  into  inland  seas,  deep  buried  in  pine  woods,  and 
known  only  to  the  wild  creatures  swarming  along  its  brink 
and  in  its  waters  ;  once,  if  report  says  true,  frequented,  how 
ever,  by  the  filibusters  and  by  the  pirates  of  the  Spanish 
Main. 


200  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

If  the  mosquitoes  were  as  numerous  and  as  persecuting  in 
those  days  as  they  are  at  present,  the  most  adventurous  youth 
would  have  soon  repented  the  infatuation  which  led  him  to 
join  the  brethren  of  the  Main.  The  mosquito  is  a  great 
enemy  to  romance,  and  our  skipper  tells  us  that  there  is  no 
such  place  known  in  the  world  for  them  as  this  coast. 

As  the  Diana  flew  along  the  grim  shore,  we  lay  listlessly 
on  the  deck  admiring  the  excessive  brightness  of  the  stars,  or 
watching  the  trailing  fire  of  her  wake.  Now  and  then  great 
fish  flew  off  from  the  shallows,  cleaving  their  path  in  flame ; 
and  one  shining  gleam  came  up  from  leeward  like  a  watery 
comet,  till  its  horrible  outline  was  revealed  close  to  us  —  a 
monster  shark  —  which  accompanied  us  with  an  easy  play  of 
the  fin,  distinctly  visible  in  the  wonderful  phosphorescence, 
now  shooting  on  ahead,  now  dropping  astern,  till  suddenly  it 
dashed  off  seaward  with  tremendous  rapidity  and  strength 
on  some  errand  of  destruction,  and  vanished  in  the  waste  of 
waters.  Despite  the  multitudes  of  fish  on  the  coast,  the 
Spaniards  who  colonize  this  ill-named  Florida  must  have  had 
a  trying  life  of  it  between  the  Indians,  now  hunted  to  death 
or  exiled  by  rigorous  Uncle  Sam,  the  mosquitoes,  and  the 
numberless  plagues  which  abound  along  these  shores. 

Hour  after  hour  passed  watching  the  play  of  large  fish  and 
the  surf  on  the  beach ;  one  by  one  the  cigar-lights  died  out ; 
and  muffling  ourselves  up  on  deck,  or  creeping  into  the  little 
cabin,  the  party  slumbered.  I  was  awoke  by  the  Captain 
talking  to  one  of  his  hands  close  to  me,  and  on  looking  up  saw 
that  he  was  staring  through  a  wonderful  black  tube,  which  he 
denominated  his  "  tallowscope,"  at  the  shore. 

Looking  in  the  direction,  I  observed  the  glare  of  a  fire  in 
the  wood,  which  on  examination  through  an  opera-glass  re 
solved  itself  into  a  steady  central  light,  with  some  smaller 
specks  around  it.  "  Wa'll,"  said  the  Captain,  "  I  guess  it  is 

just  some  of  them  d d  Yankees  as  is  landed  from  their 

tarnation  boats,  and  is  '  conoitering '  for  a  road  to  Mobile." 
There  was  an  old  iron  carronade  on  board,  and  it  struck  me 
as  a  curious  exemplification  of  the  recklessness  of  our  Amer 
ican  cousins,  when  the  skipper  said,  "  Let  us  put  a  bag  of 
bullets  in  the  ould  gun,  and  touch  it  off  at  them  ; "  which  he 
no  doubt  would  have  done,  seconded  by  one  of  our  party,  who 
drew  his  revolver  to  contribute  to  the  broadside,  but  that  I 
represented  to  them  it  was  just  as  likely  to  be  a  party  out  from 
the  camp  at  Pensacola,  and  that,  anyhow,  I  strongly  objected 


FORT  M'RAE  AND  FORT  PICKENS.        201 

to  any  belligerent  act  whilst  I  was  on  board.  It  was  very 
probably,  indeed,  the  watchfire  of  a  Confederate  patrol,  for 
the  gentry  of  the  country  have  formed  themselves  into  a  body 
of  regular  cavalry  for  such  service  ;  but  the  skipper  declared 
that  our  chaps  knew  better  than  to  be  showing  their  lights  in 
that  way,  when  we  were  within  ten  miles  of  the  entrance  to 
Pensacola. 

The  skipper  lay-to,  as  he,  very  wisely,  did  not  like  to  run 
into  the  centre  of  the  United  States  squadron  at  night ;  but 
just  at  the  first  glimpse  of  dawn  the  Diana  resumed  her 
course,  and  bowled  along  merrily  till,  with  the  first  rays  of 
the  sun,  Fort  M'Rae,  Fort  Pickens,  and  the  masts  of  the 
squadron  were  visible  ahead,  rising  above  the  blended  hori 
zon  of  land  and  sea.  We  drew  upon  them  rapidly,  and  soon 
could  make  out  the  rival  flags  —  the  Stars  and  Bars  and  Stars 
and  Stripes  —  flouting  defiance  at  each  other. 

On  the  land  side  on  our  left  is  Fort  M'Rae,  and  on  the  end 
of  the  sand-bank,  called  Santa  Rosa  Island,  directly  opposite, 
rises  the  outline  of  the  much-talked-of  Fort  Pickens,  which  is 
not  unlike  Fort  Paul  on  a  small  scale.  Through  the  glass 
the  blockading  squadron  is  seen  to  consist  of  a  sailing  frigate, 
a  sloop,  and  three  steamers ;  and  as  we  are  scrutinizing  them, 
a  small  schooner  glides  from  under  the  shelter  of  the  guard- 
ship,  and  makes  towards  us  like  a  hawk  on  a  sparrow.  Hand 
over  hand  she  comes,  a  great  swaggering  ensign  at  her  peak, 
and  a  gun  all  ready  at  her  bow  ;  and  rounding  up  along-side 
us  a  boat  manned  by  four  men  is  lowered,  an  officer  jumps  in, 
and  is  soon  under  our  counter.  The  officer,  a  bluff,  sailor-like 
looking  fellow,  in  a  uniform  a  little  the  worse  for  wear,  and 
wearing  his  beard  as  officers  of  the  United  States  navy  gener 
ally  do,  fixed  his  eye  upon  the  skipper  —  who  did  not  seem 
quite  at  his  ease,  and  had,  indeed,  confessed  to  us  that  he  had 
been  warned  off  by  the  Oriental,  as  the  tender  was  named, 
only  a  short  time  before  —  and  said,  "Hallo,  sir,  I  think  I 
have  seen  you  before:  what  schooner  is  this  ?"  "The  Diana 
of  Mobile."  "  I  thought  so."  Stepping  on  deck,  he  said, 
"  Gentlemen,  I  am  Mr.  Brown,  Master  in  the  United  States 
navy,  in  charge  of  the  boarding  schooner  Oriental."  We  each 
gave  our  names ;  whereupon  Mr.  Brown  says,  "  I  have  no 
doubt  it  will  be  all  right,  be  good  enough  to  let  me  have  your 
papers.  And  now,  sir,  make  sail,  and  lie-to  under  the  quarter 
of  that  steamer  there,  the  Powhattan."  The  Captain  did  not 
look  at  all  happy  when  the  officer  called  his  attention  to  the 
9* 


202  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

indorsement  on  his  papers ;  nor  did  the  Mobile  party  seem 
very  comfortable  when  he  remarked,  "  I  suppose,  gentlemen, 
you  are  quite  well  aware  there  is  a  strict  blockade  of  this 
port?" 

In  half  an  hour  the  schooner  lay  under  the  guns  of  the 
Powhattan,  which  is  a  stumpy,  thick -set,  powerful  steamer  of 
the  old  paddle-wheel  kind,  something  like  the  Leopard.  We 
proceeded  along-side  in  the  cutter's  boat,  and  were  ushered 
into  the  cabin,  where  the  officer  commanding,  Lieutenant 
David  Porter,  received  us,  begged  us  to  be  seated,  and  then 
inquired  into  the  object  of  our  visit,  which  he  communicated 
to  the  flag-ship  by  signal,  in  order  to  get  instructions  as  to 
our  disposal.  Nothing  could  exceed  his  courtesy  ;  and  I  was 
most  favorably  impressed  by  himself,  his  officers,  and  crew. 
He  took  me  over  the  ship,  which  is  armed  with  ten-inch  Dahl- 
grens  and  eleven-inch  pivot  guns,  with  rifled  field-pieces  and 
howitzers  on  the  sponsons.  Her  boarding  nettings  were  triced 
up,  bows  and  weak  portions  padded  with  dead  wood  and  old 
sails,  and  everything  ready  for  action. 

Lieutenant  Porter  has  been  in  and  out  of  the  harbor  ex 
amining  the  enemy's  works  at  all  hours  of  the  night,  and  he 
has  marked  off  on  the  chart,  as  he  showed  me,  the  bearings 
of  the  various  spots  where  he  can  sweep  or  enfilade  their 
works.  The  crew,  all  things  considered,  were  very  clean, 
and  their  personnel  exceedingly  fine. 

We  were  not  the  only  prize  that  was  made  by  the  Oriental 
this  morning.  A  ragged  little  schooner  lay  at  the  other  side 
of  the  Powhattan,  the  master  of  which  stood  rubbing  his 
knuckles  into  his  eyes,  and  uttering  dolorous  expressions  in 
broken  English  and  Italian,  for  he  was  a  noble  Roman  of 
Civita  Vecchia.  Lieutenant  Porter  let  me  into  the  secret. 
These  small  traders  at  Mobile,  pretending  great  zeal  for  the 
Confederate  cause,  load  their  vessels  with  fruit,  vegetables,  < 
and  things  of  which  they  know  the  squadron  is  much  in  want, 
as  well  as  the  garrison  of  the  Confederate  forts.  They  set 
out  with  the  most  valiant  intention  of  running  the  blockade, 
and  are  duly  captured  by  the  squadron,  the  officers  of  which 
are  only  too  glad  to  pay  fair  prices  for  the  cargoes.  They 
return  to  Mobile,  keep  their  money  in  their  pockets,  and  de 
clare  they  have  been  plundered  by  the  Yankees.  If  they 
get  in,  they  demand  still  higher  prices  from  the  Confederates, 
and  lay  claim  to  the  most  exalted  patriotism. 

By  signal  from  the  flag-ship,  Sabine,  we  were  ordered  to 


THE  FLAG-SHIP.  203 

repair  on  board  to  see  the  senior  officer,  Captain  Adams ;  and 
for  the  first  time  since  I  trod  the  deck  of  the  old  Leander  in 
Balaklava  harbor,  I  stood  on  board  a  fify-gun  sailing  frigate. 
Captain  Adams,  a  gray-haired  veteran  of  very  gentle  man 
ners  and  great  urbanity  received  us  in  his  cabin,  and  listened 
to  my  explanation  of  the  cause  of  my  visit  with  interest. 
About  myself  there  was  no  difficulty ;  but  he  very  justly  ob 
served  he  did  not  think  it  would  be  right  to  let  the  gentle 
men  from  Mobile  examine  Fort  Pickens,  and  then  go  among 
the  Confederate  camps.  I  am  bound  to  say  these  gentlemen 
scarcely  seemed  to  desire  or  anticipate  such  a  favor. 

Major  Vogdes,  an  engineer  officer  from  the  fort,  who  hap 
pened  to  be  on  board,  volunteered  to  take  a  letter  from  me  to 
Colonel  Harvey  Browne,  requesting  permission  to  visit  it ; 
and  I  finally  arranged  with  Captain  Adams  that  the  Diana 
was  to  be  permitted  to  pass  the  blockade  into  Pensacola  har 
bor,  and  thence  to  return  to  Mobile,  my  visit  to  Pickens  de 
pending  on  the  pleasure  of  the  Commandant  of  the  place. 
"  I  fear,  Mr.  Russell,"  said  Captain  Adams,  *'  in  giving  you 
this  permission,  I  expose  myself  to  misrepresentation  and  un 
founded  attacks.  Gentlemen  of  the  press  in  our  country  care 
little  about  private  character,  and  are,  I  fear,  rather  unscrupu 
lous  in  what  they  say  ;  but  I  rely  upon  your  character  that  no 
improper  use  shall  be  made  of  this  permission.  You  must 
hoist  a  flag  of  truce,  as  General  Bragg,  who  commands  over 
there,  has  sent  me  word  he  considers  our  blockade  a  declara 
tion  of  war,  and  will  fire  upon  any  vessel  which  approaches  him 
from  our  fleet. 

In  the  course  of  conversation,  whilst  treating  me  to  such 
man-of-war  luxuries  as  the  friendly  officer  had  at  his  disposal, 
he  gave  me  an  illustration  of  the  miseries  of  this  cruel  con 
flict  —  of  the  unspeakable  desolation  of  homes,  of  the  bitter 
ness  of  feeling  engendered  in  families.  A  Pennsylvanian  by 
birth,  he  married  long  ago  a  lady  of  Louisiana,  where  he  re 
sided  on  his  plantation  till  his  ship  was  commissioned.  He 
was  absent  on  foreign  service  when  the  feud  first  began,  and 
received  orders  at  sea,  on  the  South  American  station,  to  re 
pair  direct  to  blockade  Pensacola.  He  has  just  heard  that 
one  of  his  sons  is  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  that 
two  others  have  joined  the  forces  in  Virginia ;  and  as  he  said 
sadly,  "  God  knows,  when  I  open  my  broadside,  but  that  I 
may  be  killing  my  own  children."  But  that  was  not  all. 
One  of  the  Mobile  gentlemen  brought  him  a  letter  from  his 


204  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

daughter,  in  which  she  informs  him  that  she  has  been  elected 
vivandiere  to  a  New  Orleans  regiment,  with  which  she  intends 
to  push  on  to  Washington,  and  get  a  lock  of  old  Abe  Lincoln's 
hair ;  and  the  letter  concluded  with  the  charitable  wish  that 
her  father  might  starve  to  death  if  he  persisted  in  his  wicked 
blockade.  But  not  the  less  determined  was  the  gallant  old 
sailor  to  do  his  duty. 

Mr.  Ward,  one  of  my  companions,  had  sailed  in  the  Sabine 
in  the  Paraguay  expedition,  and  I  availed  myself  of  his  ac 
quaintance  with  his  old  comrades  to  take  a  glance  round  the 
ship.  Wherever  they  came  from,  four  hundred  more  sailor- 
like,  strong,  handy  young  fellows  could  not  be  seen  than  the 
crew ;  and  the  officers  were  as  hospitable  as  their  limited  re 
sources  in  whiskey  grog,  cheese,  and  junk  allowed  them  to  be. 
With  thanks  for  his  kindness  and  courtesy,  I  parted  from 
Captain  Adams,  feeling  more  than  ever  the  terrible  and  ear 
nest  nature  of  the  impending  conflict.  May  the  kindly  good 
old  man  be  shielded  on  the  day  of  battle ! 

A  ten-oared  barge  conveyed  us  to  the  Oriental,  which,  with 
flowing  sheet,  ran  down  to  the  Powhattan.  There  I  saw  Cap 
tain  Porter,  and  told  him  that  Captain  Adams  had  given  me 
permission  to  visit  the  Confederate  camp,  and  that  I  had  writ 
ten  for  leave  to  go  on  shore  at  Fort  Pickens.  An  officer  was 
in  his  cabin,  to  whom  I  was  introduced  as  Captain  Poore,  of 
the  Brooklyn.  "  You  don't  mean  to  say,  Mr.  Russell,"  said 
he,  "  that  these  editors  of  Southern  newspapers  who  are  with 
you  have  leave  to  go  on  shore  ?  "  This  was  rather  a  fishing 
question.  "  I  assure  you,  Captain  Poore,  that  there  is  no 
editor  of  a  Southern  newspaper  in  my  company." 

The  boat  which  took  us  from  the  Powhattan  to  the  Diana 
was  in  charge  of  a  young  officer  related  to  Captain  Porter, 
who  amused  me  by  the  spirit  with  which  he  bandied  remarks 
about  the  war  with  the  Mobile  men,  who  had  now  recovered 
their  equanimity,  and  were  indulging  in  what  is  called  chaff 
about  the  blockade.  "  Well,"  he  said,  "  you  were  the  first  to 
begin  it ;  let  us  see  whether  you  won't  be  the  first  to  leave  it 
off.  I  guess  our  Northern  ice  will  pretty  soon  put  out  your 
Southern  fire." 

When  we  came  on  board,  the  skipper  heard  our  orders  to 
up  stick  and  away  with  an  air  of  pity  and  incredulity ;  nor 
was  it  till  I  had  repeated  it,  he  kicked  up  his  crew  from  their 
sleep  on  deck,  and  with  a  "  Wa'll,  really,  I  never  did  see  sich 
a  thing  !  "  made  sail  towards  the  entrance  to  the  harbor. 


THE  FLAG  OF  TRUCFT.  205 

As  we  got  abreast  of  Fort  Pickens,  I  ordered  tablecloth 
No.  1  to  be  hoisted  to  the  peak ;  and  through  the  glass  I  saw- 
that  our  appearance  attracted  no  ordinary  attention  from  the 
garrison  of  Pickens  close  at  hand  on  our  right,  and  the  more 
distant  Confederates  on  Fort  M'Rae  and  the  sand-hills  on  our 
left.  The  latter  work  is  weak  and  badly  built,  quite  under  the 
command  of  Pickens,  but  it  is  supported  by  the  old  Spanish 
fort  of  Barrancas  upon  high  ground  further  inland,  and  by  nu 
merous  batteries  at  the  water-line  and  partly  concealed  amidst 
the  woods  which  fringe  the  shore  as  far  as  the  navy  yard  of 
Warrington,  near  Pensacola.  The  wind  was  light,  but  the 
tide  bore  us  onwards  towards  the  Confederate  works.  Arms 
glanced  in  the  blazing  sun  where  regiments  were  engaged  at 
drill,  clouds  of  dust  rose  from  the  sandy  roads,  horsemen  riding 
along  the  beach,  groups  of  men  in  uniform,  gave  a  martial  ap 
pearance  to  the  place  in  unison  with  the  black  muzzles  of  the 
guns  which  peeped  from  the  white  sand  batteries  from  the  en 
trance  of  the  harbor  to  the  navy  yard  now  close  at  hand.  As 
at  Sumter  Major  Anderson  permitted  the  Carolinians  to  erect 
the  batteries  he  might  have  so  readily  destroyed  in  the  com 
mencement,  so  the  Federal  officers  here  have  allowed  General 
Bragg  to  work  away  at  his  leisure,  mounting  cannon  after 
cannon,  throwing  up  earthworks,  and  strengthening  his  batte 
ries,  till  he  has  assumed  so  formidable  an  attitude,  that  I  doubt 
very  much  whether  the  fort  and  the  fleet  combined  can  silence 
his  fire. 

On  the  low  shore  close  to  us  were  numerous  wooden  houses 
and  detached  villas,  surrounded  by  orange  groves.  At  last  the 
captain  let  go  his  anchor  off  the  end  of  a  wooden  jetty,  which 
was  crowded  with  ammunition,  shot,  shell,  casks  of  provisions, 
and  commissariat  stores.  A  small  steamer  was  engaged  in  add 
ing  to  the  collection,  and  numerous  light  craft  gave  evidence 
that  all  trade  had  not  ceased.  Indeed,  inside  Santa  Rosa  Is 
land,  which  runs  for  forty-five  miles  from  Pickens  eastward 
parallel  to  the  shore,  there  is  a  considerable  coasting  traffic 
carried  on  for  the  benefit  of  the  Confederates. 

The  skipper  went  ashore  with  my  letters  to  General  Bragg, 
and  speedily  returned  with  an  orderly,  who  brought  permis 
sion  for  the  Diana  to  come  along-side  the  wharf.  The  Mobile 
gentlemen  were  soon  on  shore,  eager  to  seek  their  friends  ; 
and  in  a  few  seconds  the  officer  of  the  quartermaster-general's 
department  on  duty  came  on  board  to  conduct  me  to  the 
officers'  quarters,  whilst  waiting  for  my  reply  from  General 
Brag£. 


206  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

The  navy  yard  is  surrounded  by  a  high  wall,  the  gates 
closely  guarded  by  sentries ;  the  houses,  gardens,  workshops, 
factories,  forges,  slips,  and  building  sheds  are  complete  of 
their  kind,  and  cover  upwards  of  three  hundred  acres  ;  and 
with  the  forts  which  protect  the  entrance,  cost  the  United 
States  Government  not  less  than  six  millions  sterling.  Inside 
these  was  the  greatest  activity  and  life,  —  Zouave,  Chasseurs, 
and  all  kind  of  military  eccentricities  —  were  drilling,  parad 
ing,  exercising,  sitting  in  the  shade,  loading  tumbrils,  playing 
cards,  or  sleeping  on  the  grass.  Tents  were  pitched  under  the 
trees  and  on  the  little  lawns  and  grass-covered  quadrangles. 
The  houses,  each  numbered  and  marked  with  the  name  of  the 
functionary  to  whose  use  it  was  assigned,  were  models  of  neat 
ness,  with  gardens  in  front,  filled  with  glorious  tropical  flowers. 
They  were  painted  green  and  white,  provided  with  porticoes, 
Venetian  blinds,  verandas,  and  colonnades,  to  protect  the  in 
mates  as  much  as  possible  from  the  blazing  sun,  which  in  the 
dog-days  is  worthy  of  Calcutta.  The  old  Fulton  is  the  only 
ship  on  the  stocks.  From  the  naval  arsenal  quantities  of  shot 
and  shell  are  constantly  pouring  to  the  batteries.  Piles  of 
cannon-balls  dot  the  grounds,  but  the  only  ordnance  I  saw 
were  two  old  mortars  placed  as  ornaments  in  the  main  avenue, 
one  dated  1776. 

The  quartermaster  conducted  me  through  shady  walks  into 
one  of  the  houses,  then  into  a  long  room,  and  presented  me 
en  masse  to  a  body  of  officers,  mostly  belonging  to  a  Zouave 
regiment  from  New  Orleans,  who  were  seated  at  a  very  com 
fortable  dinner,  with  abundance  of  champagne,  claret,  beer, 
and  ice.  They  were  all  young,  full  of  life  and  spirits,  except 
three  or  four  graver  and  older  men,  who  were  Europeans. 
One,  a  Dane,  had  fought  against  the  Prussians  and  Schleswig- 
Holsteiners  at  Idstedt  and  Friederichstadt ;  another,  an  Ital 
ian,  seemed  to  have  been  engaged  indifferently  in  fighting  all 
over  the  South  American  continent ;  a  third,  a  Pole,  had  been 
at  Comorn,  and  had  participated  in  the  revolutionary  guerrilla 
of  1848.  From  these  officers  I  learned  that  Mr.  Jefferson 
Davis,  his  wife,  Mr.  Wigfall,  and  Mr.  Mallory,  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  had  come  down  from  Montgomery,  and  had  been 
visiting  the  works  all  day. 

Every  one  here  believes  the  attack  so  long  threatened  is  to 
come  off  at  last  and  at  once. 

After  dinner  an  aide-de-camp  from  General  Bragg  entered 
with  a  request  that  I  would  accompany  him  to  the  command- 


GENERAL  BRAGG  ON  SLAVERY.         207 

ing  officer's  quarters.  As  the  sand  outside  the  navy  yard  was 
deep,  and  rendered  walking  very  disagreeable,  the  young 
officer  stopped  a  cart,  into  which  we  got,  and  were  proceeding 
on  our  way,  when  a  tall,  elderly  man,  in  a  blue  frock-coat  with 
a  gold  star  on  the  shoulder,  trousers  with  a  gold  stripe  and 
gilt  buttons  rode  past,  followed  by  an  orderly,  who  looked 
more  like  a  dragoon  than  anything  I  have  yet  seen  in  the 
States.  "  There's  General  Bragg,"  quoth  the  aide,  and  I  was 
duly  presented  to  the  General,  who  reined  up  by  the  wagon. 
He  sent  his  orderly  off  at  once  for  a  light  cart  drawn  by  a 
pair  of  mules,  in  which  I  completed  my  journey,  and  was 
safely  decarted  at  the  door  of  a  substantial  house  surrounded 
by  trees  of  lime,  oak,  and  sycamore. 

Led  horses  and  orderlies  thronged  the  front  of  the  portico, 
and  gave  it  the  usual  head-quarters-like  aspect.  General  Bragg 
received  me  at  the  steps,  and  took  me  to  his  private  room, 
where  we  remained  for  a  long  time  in  conversation.  He  had 
retired  from  the  United  States  army  after  the  Mexican  war  — 
in  which,  by  the  way,  he  played  a  distinguished  part,  his  name 
being  generally  coupled  with  the  phrase  "  a  little  more  grape, 
Captain  Bragg,"  used  in  one  of  the  hottest  encounters  of  that 
campaign  —  to  his  plantation  in  Louisiana  ;  but  suddenly  the 
Northern  States  declared  their  intention  of  using  force  to  free 
and  sovereign  States,  which  were  exercising  their  constitution 
al  rights  to  secede  from  the  Federal  Union. 

Neither  he  nor  his  family  were  responsible  for  the  system 
of  slavery.  His  ancestors  found  it  established  by  law  and 
flourishing,  and  had  left  him  property,  consisting  of  slaves, 
which  was  granted  to  him  by  the  laws  and  constitution  of  the 
United  States.  Slaves  were  necessary  for  the  actual  cultiva 
tion  of  the  soil  in  the  South ;  Europeans  and  Yankees  who 
settled  there  speedily  became  convinced  of  that ;  and  if  a 
Northern  population  were  settled  in  Louisiana  to-morrow,  they 
would  discover  that  they  must  till  the  land  by  the  labor  of  the 
black  race,  and  that  the  only  mode  of  making  the  black  race 
work,  was  to  hold  them  in  a  condition  of  involuntary  servitude. 
"  Only  the  other  day,  Colonel  Harvey  Browne,  at  Pickens, 
over  the  way,  carried  off  a  number  of  negroes  from  Tortugas, 
and  put  them  to  work  at  Santa  Rosa.  Why  ?  Because  his 
white  soldiers  were  not  able  for  it.  No.  The  North  was 
bent  on  subjugating  the  South,  and  as  long  as  he  had  a  drop 
of  blood  in  his  body,  he  would  resist  such  an  infamous  at 
tempt." 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Before  supper  General  Bragg  opened  his  maps,  and  pointed 
out  to  me  in  detail  the  position  of  all  his  works,  the  line  of  fire 
of  each  gun,  and  the  particular  object  to  be  expected  from  its 
effects.  "  I  know  every  inch  of  Pickens,"  he  said,  "  for  I  hap 
pened  to  be  stationed  there  as  soon  as  I  left  West  Point,  and  I 
don't  think  there  is  a  stone  in  it  that  I  am  not  as  well  ac 
quainted  with  as  Harvey  Browne." 

His  staff,  consisting  of  four  intelligent  young  men,  two  of 
them  lately  belonging  to  the  United  States  army,  supped  with 
us,  and  after  a  very  agreeable  evening,  horses  were  ordered 
round  to  the  door,  and  I  returned  to  the  navy  yard  attended 
by  the  General's  orderly,  and  provided  with  a  pass  and  coun 
tersign.  As  a  mark  of  complete  confidence,  General  Bragg 
told  me,  for  my  private  ear,  that  he  had  no  present  intention 
whatever  of  opening  fire,  and  that  his  batteries  were  far  from 
being  in  a  state,  either  as  regards  armament  or  ammunition, 
which  would  justify  him  in  meeting  the  fire  of  the  forts  and 
the  ships. 

And  so  we  bade  good-by.  "  To-morrow,"  said  the  General, 
"  I  will  send  down  one  of  my  best  horses  and  Mr.  Ellis,  my 
aide-de-camp,  to  take  you  over  all  the  works  and  batteries." 
As  I  rode  home  with  my  honest  orderly  beside  instead  of  be 
hind  me,  for  he  was  of  a  conversational  turn,  I  was  much  per 
plexed  in  my  mind,  endeavoring  to  determine  which  was  right 
and  which  was  wrong  in  this  quarrel,  and  at  last,  as  at  Mont 
gomery,  I  was  forced  to  ask  myself  if  right  and  wrong  \vere 
geographical  expressions  depending  for  extension  or  limitation 
on  certain  conditions  of  climate  and  lines  of  latitude  and  lon 
gitude.  Here  was  the  General's  orderly  beside  me,  an  intelli 
gent  middle-aged  man,  who  had  come  to  do  battle  with  as 
much  sincerity  —  ay,  and  religious  confidence  —  as  ever  act 
uated  old  John  Brown  or  any  New  England  puritan  to  make 
war  against  slavery.  "  I  have  left  my  old  woman  and  the 
children  to  the  care  of  the  niggers  ;  I  have  turned  up  all  my 
cotton  land  and  planted  it  with  corn,  and  I  don't  intend  to  go 
back  alive  till  I've  seen  the  back  of  the  last  Yankee  in  our 
Southern  States."  "  And  are  wife  and  children  alone  with  the 
negroes?"  "  Yes,  sir.  There's  only  one  white  man  on  the 
plantation,  an  overseer  sort  of  chap."  "  Are  not  you  afraid  of 
the  slaves  rising  ?  "  "  They're  ignorant  poor  creatures,  to  be 
sure,  but  as  yet  they're  faithful.  Any  way,  I  put  my  trust  in 
God,  and  I  know  he'll  watch  over  the  house  while  I'm  away 
fighting  for  this  good  cause  ! "  This  man  came  from  Missis- 


ON  BOARD  THE  SCHOONER.  209 

sippi,  and  had  twenty-five  slaves,  which  represented  a  money 
value  of  at  least  £5000.  He  was  beyond  the  age  of  enthusi 
asm,  and  was  actuated,  no  doubt,  by  strong  principles,  to  him 
unquestionable  and  sacred. 

My  pass  and  countersign,  which  were  only  once  demanded, 
took  me  through  the  sentries,  and  I  got  on  board  the  schooner 
shortly  before  midnight,  and  found  nearly  all  the  party  on 
deck,  enchanted  with  their  reception.  More  than  once  we 
were  awoke  by  the  vigilant  sentries,  who  would  not  let  what 
Americans  call  "  the  balance  "  of  our  friends  on  board  till 
they  had  seen  my  authority  to  receive  them. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Bitters  before  breakfast  —  An  old  Crimean  acquaintance  —  Earthworks 
and  batteries  —  Estimate  of  cannons  —  Magazines  —  Hospitality  — 
English  and  American  introductions  and  leave-takings  —  Fort 
Pickens  ;  its  interior  —  Return  toward  Mobile  —  Pursued  by  a 
strange  sail  —  Running  the  blockade  —  Landing  at  Mobile. 

May  I  Qtk.  —  The  reveille  of  the  Zouaves,  note  for  note  the 
same  as  that  which,  in  the  Crimea,  so  often  woke  up  poor 
fellows  who  slept  the  long  sleep  ere  nightfall,  roused  us  this 
morning  early,  and  then  the  clang  of  trumpets  and  the  roll  of 
drums  beating  French  calls  summoned  the  volunteers  to  early 
parade.  As  there  was  a  heavy  dew,  and  many  winged  things 
about  last  night,  I  turned  in  to  my  berth  below,  where  four 
human  beings  were  supposed  to  lie  in  layers,  like  mummies 
beneath  a  pyramid,  and  there,  after  contention  with  cock 
roaches,  sank  to  rest.  No  wonder  I  was  rather  puzzled  to  know 
where  I  was  now;  for  in  addition  to  the  music  and  the  famil 
iar  sounds  outside,  I  was  somewhat  perturbed  in  my  mental 
calculations  by  bringing  my  head  sharply  in  contact  with  a 
beam  of  the  deck  which  had  the  best  of  it;  but,  at  last, 
facts  accomplished  themselves  and  got  into  place,  much  aided 
by  the  appearance  of  the  negro  cook  with  a  cup  of  coffee  in 
his  hand,  who  asked,  "  Mosieu  !  Capitaine  vant  to  ax  vedder 
you  take  some  bitter,  sar !  Lisbon  bitter,  sar."  I  saw  the 
captain  on  deck  busily  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  a  liquid 
which  I  was  adjured  by  all  the  party  on  deck  to  take,  if  I 
wished  to  make  a  Redan  or  a  Malakoff  of  my  stomach,  and 
accordingly  I  swallowed  a  petit  verre  of  a  very  strong,  and 
intensely  bitter  preparation  of  brandy  and  tonic  roots,  sweet 
ened  with  sugar,  for  which  Mobile  is  famous. 

The  noise  of  our  arrival  had  gone  abroad ;  haply  the 
report  of  the  good  things  with  which  the  men  of  Mobile  had 
laden  the  craft,  for  a  few  officers  came  aboard  even  at  that 
early  hour,  and  we  asked  two  who  were  known  to  our  friends 
to  stay  for  breakfast.  That  meal,  to  which  the  negro  cook 
applied  his  whole  mind  and  all  the  galley,  consisted  of  an 


A  FRIEND  FROM  THE  CRIMEA,  211 

ugly  looking  but  well-flavored  fish  from  the  waters  outside  us, 
fried  ham  and  onions,  biscuit,  coffee,  iced  water  and  Bordeaux, 
served  with  charming  simplicity,  and  no  way  calculated  to 
move  the  ire  of  Horace  by  a  display  of  Persic  apparatus. 

A  more  greasy,  oniony  meal  was  never  better  enjoyed. 
One  of  our  guests  was  a  jolly  Yorkshire  farmer-looking  man, 
up  to  about  16  stone  weight,  with  any  hounds,  dressed  in  a 
tunic  of  green  baize  or  frieze,  with  scarlet  worsted  braid 
down  the  front,  gold  lace  on  the  cuffs  and  collar,  and  a  felt 
wide-awake,  with  a  bunch  of  feathers  in  it.  He  wiped  the 
sweat  off  his  brow,  and  swore  that  he  would  never  give  in, 
and  that  the  whole  of  the  company  of  riflemen  whom  he 
commanded,  if  not  as  heavy,  were  quite  as  patriotic.  He  was 
evidently  a  kindly  affectionate  man.  without  a  trace  of  malice 
in  his  composition,  but  his  sentiments  were  quite  ferocious 
when  he  came  to  speak  of  the  Yankees.  He  was  a  large 
slave-owner,  and  therefore  a  man  of  fortune,  and  he  spoke 
with  all  the  fervor  of  a  capitalist  menaced  by  a  set  of  Red 
Republicans. 

His  companion,  who  wore  a  plain  blue  uniform,  spoke  sen 
sibly  about  a  matter  with  which  sense  has  rarely  any  thing  to 
do  —  namely  uniform.  Many  of  the  United  States  volunteers 
adopt  the  same  gray  colors  so  much  in  vogue  among  the  Con 
federates.  The  officers  of  both  armies  wear  similar  distin 
guishing  marks  of  rank,  and  he  was  quite  right  in  supposing 
that  in  night  marches,  or  in  serious  actions  on  a  large  scale, 
much  confusion  and  loss  would  be  caused  by  men  of  the  same 
army  firing  on  each  other,  or  mistaking  enemies  for  friends. 

Whilst  we  were  talking,  large  shoals  of  mullet  and  other 
fish  were  flying  before  the  porpoises,  red  fish,  and  other  ene 
mies,  in  the  tide-way  astern  of  the  schooner.  Once,  as  a 
large  white  fish  came  leaping  up  to  the  surface,  a  gleam  of 
something  still  whiter  shot  through  the  waves,  and  a  boiling 
whirl,  tinged  with  crimson,  which  gradually  melted  off  in  the 
tide,  marked  where  the  fish  had  been. 

"  There's  a  ground  sheark  as  has  got  his  breakfast,"  quoth 
the  Skipper.  "  There's  quite  a  many  of  them  about  here." 
Now  and  then  a  turtle  showed  his  head,  exciting  desiderium 
tarn  cari  captis,  above  the  envied  flood  which  he  honored  with 
his  presence. 

Far  away  toward  Pensacola,  floated  three  British  ensigns, 
from  as  many  merchantmen,  which  as  yet  had  fifteen  days  to 
clear  out  from  the  blockaded  port.  Fort  Pickens  had  hoisted 


212  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

the  stars  and  stripes  to  the  wind,  and  Fort  M'Rae,  as  if  to 
irritate  its  neighbor,  displayed  a  flag  almost  identical,  but  for 
the  "  lone  star,"  which  the  glass  detected  instead  of  the  ordi 
nary  galaxy  —  the  star  of  Florida. 

Lieutenant  Ellis,  General  Bragg's  aide-de-camp,  came  on 
board  at  an  early  hour  in  order  to  take  me  round  the  works, 
and  I  was  soon  on  the  back  of  the  General's  charger,  safely 
ensconced  between  the  raised  pummel  and  cantle  of  a  great 
brass-bound  saddle,  with  emblazoned  saddle-cloth  and  mighty 
stirrups  of  brass,  fit  for  the  fattest  marshal  that  ever  led  an 
army  of  France  to  victory ;  but  General  Bragg  is  longer  in 
the  leg  than  the  Duke  of  Malakoff  or  Marshal  Canrobert, 
and  all  my  efforts  to  touch  with  my  toe  the  wonderful  sup 
ports  which,  in  consonance  with  the  American  idea,  dangled 
far  beneath,  were  ineffectual. 

As  our  road  lay  by  head-quarters,  the  aide-de-camp  took 
me  into  the  court  and  called  out  "  Orderly  ; "  and  at  the  sum 
mons  a  smart  soldier-like  young  fellow  came  to  the  front,  took 
me  three  holes  up,  and  as  I  was  riding  away  touched  his  cap 
and  said,  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,  but  I  often  saw  you  in  the 
Crimea."  He  had  been  in  the  llth  Hussars,  and  on  the  day 
of  Balaklava  he  was  following  close  to  Lord  Cardigan  and 
Captain  Nolan,  when  his  horse  was  killed  by  a  round  shot. 
As  he  was  endeavoring  to  escape  on  foot  the  Cossacks  took 
him  prisoner,  and  he  remained  for  eleven  months  in  captivity 
in  Russia,  till  he  was  exchanged  at  Odessa,  toward  the  close 
of  the  war ;  then,  being  one  of  two  sergeants  who  were  per 
mitted  to  get  their  discharge,  he  left  the  service.  "  But  here 
you  are  again,"  said  I,  "soldiering  once  more,  and  merely 
acting  as  an  orderly ! "  "  Well,  that's  true  enough,  but  I 
came  over  here,  thinking  to  better  myself  as  some  of  our 
fellows  did,  and  then  the  war  broke  out,  and  I  entered  one  of 
what  they  called  their  cavalry  regiments  —  Lord  bless  you, 
sir,  it  would  just  break  your  heart  to  see  them  —  and  here  I  am 
now,  and  the  general  has  made  me  an  orderly.  He  is  a  kind 
man,  sir,  and  the  pay  is  good,  but  they  are  not  like  the  old 
lot ;  I  do  not  know  what  my  lord  would  think  of  them."  The 
man's  name  was  Montague,  and  he  told  me  his  father  lived 
"  at  a  place  called  Windsor,"  twenty -one  miles  from  London. 
Lieutenant  Ellis  said  he  was  a  very  clean,  smart,  well-con 
ducted  soldier. 

From  head-quarters  we  started  on  our  little  tour  of  inspec 
tion  of  the  batteries.  Certainly,  any  thing  more  calculated 


FORTS  AROUND  FORT  PICKEXS.  213 

to  shake  confidence  in  American  journalism  could  not  be 
seen  ;  for  I  had  been  led  to  believe  that  the  works  were  of 
the  most  formidable  description,  mounting  hundreds  of  guns. 
Where  hundreds  was  written,  tens  would  have  been  nearer 
the  truth. 

I  visited  ten  out  of  the  thirteen  batteries  which  General 
Bragg  has  erected  against  Fort  Pickens.  I  saw  but  five 
heavy  siege  guns  in  the  whole  of  the  works  among  the  fifty  or 
fifty-five  pieces  with  which  they  were  armed.  There  may 
be  about  eighty  altogether  on  the  lines,  which  describe  an 
arc  of  135  degrees  for  about  three  miles  round  Pickens,  at 
an  average  distance  of  a  mile  and  one  third.  I  was  rather 
interested  with  Fort  Barrancas,  built  by  the  Spaniards  long 
ago  —  an  old  work  on  the  old  plan,  weakly  armed,  but  pos 
sessing  a  tolerable  command  from  the  face  of  fire. 

In  all  the  batteries  there  were  covered  galleries  in  the  rear, 
connected  with  the  magazines,  and  called  "  rat-holes,"  intend 
ed  by  the  constructors  as  a  refuge  for  the  men  whenever  a 
shell  from  Pickens  dropped  in.  The  rush  to  the  rat-hole  does 
not  impress  one  as  being  very  conducive  to  a  sustained  and 
heavy  fire,  or  at  all  likely  to  improve  the  morale  of  the  gun 
ners.  The  working  parties,  as  they  were  called  —  volunteers 
from  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  great  long-bearded  fellows  in 
flannel  shirts  and  slouched  hats,  uniformless  in  all  save  bright 
ly  burnished  arms  and  resolute  purpose  • —  were  lying  about 
among  the  works,  or  contributing  languidly  to  their  comple 
tion. 

Considerable  improvements  were  in  the  course  of  execu 
tion  ;  but  the  officers  were  not  always  agreed  as  to  the  work 
to  be  done.  Captain  A.,  at  the  wheelbarrows  :  "  Now  then, 
you  men,  wheel  up  these  sand-bags,  and  range  them  just  at 
this  corner."  Major  B. :  "  My  good  Captain  A.,  what  do 
you  want  the  bags  there  for  ?  Did  I  not  tell  you,  these  mer 
lons  were  not  to  be  finished  till  we  had  completed  the  parapet 
on  the  front  ?  "  Captain  A. :  "  Well,  Major,  so  you  did,  and 
your  order  made  me  think  you  knew  darned  little  about  your 
business  ;  and  so  I  am  going  to  do  a  little  engineering  of  my 
own." 

Altogether,  I  was  quite  satisfied  General  Bragg  was  per 
fectly  correct  in  refusing  to  open  his  fire  on  Fort  Pickens  and 
on  the  fleet,  which  ought  certainly  to  have  knocked  his  works 
about  his  ears,  in  spite  of  his  advantages  of  position,  and  of 
some  well-placed  mortar  batteries  among  the  brushwood,  at 


214  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

distances  from  Pickens  of  2500  and  2800  yards.  The  maga 
zines  of  the  batteries  I  visited  did  not  contain  ammunition  for 
more  than  one  day's  ordinary  firing.  The  shot  were  badly 
cast,  with  projecting  flanges  from  the  mould,  which  would  be 
very  injurious  to  soft  metal  guns  in  firing.  As  to  men,  as  in 
guns,  the  Southern  papers  had  lied  consumedly.  I  could  not 
say  how  many  were  in  Pensacola  itself,  for  I  did  not  visit  the 
camp :  at  the  outside  guess  of  the  numbers  there  was  2000. 
I  saw,  however,  all  the  camps  here,  and  I  doubt  exceedingly 
if  General  Bragg  —  who  at  this  time  is  represented  to  have 
any  number  from  30,000  to  50,000  men  under  his  command 
—  has  8000  troops  to  support  his  batteries,  or  10,000,  includ 
ing  Pensacola,  all  told. 

If  hospitality  consists  in  the  most  liberal  participation  of 
all  the  owner  has  with  his  visitors,  here,  indeed,  Philemon 
has  his  type  in  every  tent.  As  we  rode  along  through  every 
battery,  by  every  officer's  quarters  some  great  Mississippian 
or  Alabarnian  came  forward  with  "  Captain  Ellis,  I  am  glad 
to  see  you."  "  Colonel,"  to  me,  "  won't  you  get  down  and 
have  a  drink  ?  "  Mr.  Ellis  duly  introduces  me.  The  Colonel 
with  effusion  grasps  my  hand  and  says,  as  if  he  had  just  gained 
the  particular  object  of  his  existence,  u  Sir,  I  am  very  glad 
indeed  to  know  you.  I  hope  you  have  been  pretty  well  since 
you  have  been  in  our  country,  sir.  Here,  Pompey,  take  the 
colonel's  horse.  Step  in,  sir,  and  have  a  drink."  Then  comes 
out  the  great  big  whiskey  bottle,  and  an  immense  amount  of 
adhesion  to  the  first  law  of  nature  is  required  to  get  you  off 
with  less  than  half-a-pint  of  "  Bourbon ; "  but  the  most  trying 
thing  to  a  stranger  is  the  fact  that  when  he  is  going  away,  the 
officer,  who  has  been  so  delighted  to  see  him,  does  not  seem 
to  care  a  farthing  for  his  guest  or  his  health. 

The  truth  is,  these  introductions  are  ceremonial  observances, 
and  compliances  with  the  universal  curiosity  of  Americans  to 
know  people  they  meet.  The  Englishman  bows  frigidly  to 
his  acquaintance  on  the  first  introduction,  and  if  he  likes  him 
shakes  hands  with  him  on  leaving  —  a  much  more  sensible 
and  justifiable  proceeding.  The  American's  warmth  at  the 
first  interview  must  be  artificial,  and  the  indifference  at  part 
ing  is  ill-bred  and  in  bad  taste.  I  had  already  observed  this 
on  many  occasions,  especially  at  Montgomery,  where  I  noticed 
it  to  Colonel  Wigfall,  but  the  custom  is  not  incompatible  with 
the  most  profuse  hospitality,  nor  with  the  desire  to  render 
service. 


VISIT  TO  FORT  PICKENS.  21 5 

On  my  return  to  head-quarters  I  found  General  Bragg  in 
his  room,  engaged  in  writing  an  official  letter  in  reply  to  my 
request  to  be  permitted  to  visit  Fort  Pickens,  in  which  he 
gave  me  full  permission  to  do  as  I  pleased.  Not  only  this, 
but  he  had  prepared  a  number  of  letters  of  introduction  to  the 
military  authorities,  and  to  his  personal  friends  at  New 
Orleans,  requesting  them  to  give  me  every  facility  and 
friendly  assistance  in  their  power.  He  asked  me  my  opinion 
about  the  batteries  and  their  armament,  which  I  freely  gave 
him  quantum  valeat.  "  Well,"  he  said,  tk  I  think  your  conclu 
sions  are  pretty  just;  but,  nevertheless,  some  fine  day  I  shall 
be  forced  to  try  the  mettle  of  our  friends  on  the  opposite 
side."  All  I  could  say  was,  "  May  God  defend  the  right." 
"A  good  saying,  to  which  I  say,  Amen.  And  drink  with  you 
to  it." 

There  was  a  room  outside,  full  of  generals  and  colonels, 
to  whom  I  was  duly  introduced,  but  the  time  for  departure 
had  come,  and  I  bade  good-by  to  the  general  and  rode  down 
to  the  wharf.  I  had  always  heard,  during-  my  brief  sojourn 
in  the  North,  that  the  Southern  people  were  exceedingly 
illiterate  and  ignorant.  It  may  be  so,  but  I  am  bound  to  say 
that  I  observed  a  large  proportion  of  the  soldiers,  on  their 
way  to  the  navy  yard,  engaged  in  reading  newspapers,  though 
they  did  not  neglect  the  various  drinking  bars  and  ex 
changes,  which  were  only  too  numerous  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
camps. 

The  schooner  was  all  ready  for  sea,  but  the  Mobile  gentle 
man  had  gone  off  to  Pensacola,  and  as  I  did  not  desire  to 
invite  them  to  visit  Fort  Pickens  —  where,  indeed,  they  would 
have  most  likely  met  with  a  refusal  —  I  resolved  to  sail  with 
out  them  and  to  return  to  the  navy  yard  in  the  evening,  in 
order  to  take  them  back  on  our  homeward  voyage.  "  Now 
then,  captain,  cast  loose  ;  we  are  going  to  Fort  Pickens."  The 
worthy  seaman  had  by  this  time  become  utterly  at  sea,  and 
did  not  appear  to  know  whether  he  belonged  to  the  Confed 
erate  States,  Abraham  Lincoln,  or  the  British  navy.  But 
this  order  roused  him  a  little,  and  looking  at  me  with  all  his 
eyes,  he  exclaimed,  "  Why,  you  don't  mean  to  say  you  are 
going  to  make  me  bring  the  Diana  alongside  that  darned 
Yankee  Fort !  "  Our  table-cloth,  somewhat  maculated  with 
gravy,  was  hoisted  once  more  to  the  peak,  and,  after  some 
formalities  between  the  guardians  of  the  jetty  and  ourselves, 
the  schooner  canted  round  in  the  tideway,  and  with  a  fine 
light  breeze  ran  down  toward  the  stars  and  stripes. 


216  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

What  magical  power  there  is  in  the  colors  of  a  piece  of 
bunting  !  My  companions,  I  dare  say,  felt  as  proud  of  their 
flag  as  if  their  ancestors  had  fought  under  it  at  Acre  or  Jeru 
salem.  And  yet  how  fictitious  its  influence  !  Death,  and  dis 
honor  worse  than  death,  to  desert  it  one  day !  Patriotism  and 
glory  to  leave  it  in  the  dust,  and  fight  under  its  rival,  the  next ! 
How  indignant  would  George  Washington  have  been,  if  the 
Frenchman  at  Fort  du  Quesne  had  asked  him  to  abandon  the 
old  rag  which  Braddock  held  aloft  in  the  wilderness,  and  to 
serve  under  the  very  fleur-de-lys  which  the  same  great  George 
hailed  with  so  much  joy  but  a  few  years  afterwards,  when  it 
was  advanced  to  the  front  at  Yorktown,  to  win  one  of  its  few 
victories  over  the  Lions  and  the  Harp.  And  in  this  Confed 
erate  flag  there  is  a  meaning  which  cannot  die  —  it  marks  the 
birthplace  of  a  new  nationality,  and  its  place  must  know  it 
forever.  Even  the  flag  of  a  rebellion  leaves  indelible  colors 
in  the  political  atmosphere.  The  hopes  that  sustained  it 
may  vanish  in  the  gloom  of  night,  but  the  national  faith  still 
believes  that  its  sun  will  rise  on  some  glorious  morrow.  Hard 
must  it  be  for  this  race,  so  arrogant,  so  great,  to  see  stripe  and 
star  torn  from  the  fair  standard  with  which  they  would  fain 
have  shadowed  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  ;  but  their  great 
continent  is  large  enough  for  many  nations. 

"  And  now,"  said  the  skipper,  "  I  think  we'd  best  lie  to  — 
them  cussed  Yankees  on  the  beach  is  shouting  to  us."  And 
so  they  were.  A  sentry  on  the  end  of  a  wooden  jetty  sung 
out,  "  Hallo  you  there !  Stand  off  or  I'll  fire,"  and  "  drew 
a  bead-line  on  us."  At  the  same  time  the  skipper  hailed, 
"  Please  to  send  a  boat  off  to  go  ashore."  "  No,  sir !  Come  in 
your  own  boat ! "  cried  the  officer  of  the  guard.  Our  own 
boat !  A  very  skiff  of  Charon  !  Leaky,  rotten,  lop-sided.  We 
were  a  hundred  yards  from  the  beach,  and  it  was  to  be  hoped 
that  with  all  its  burden,  it  could  not  go  down  in  such  a  short 
row.  As  I  stepped  in,  however,  followed  by  my  two  com 
panions,  the  water  flew  in  as  if  forced  by  a  pump,  and  when 
the  sailors  came  after  us  the  skipper  said,  through  a  mouthful 
of  juice,  "  Deevid  !  pull  your  hardest,  for  there  an't  a  more 
terrible  place  for  shearks  along  the  whole  coast."  Deevid  and 
his  friend  pulled  like  men,  and  our  hopes  rose  with  the  water 
in  the  boat  and  the  decreasing  distance  to  shore.  They 
worked  like  Doggett's  badgers,  and  in  five  minutes  we  were 
out  of  "  sheark  "  depth  and  alongside  the  jetty,  where  Major 
Vogdes,  Mr.  Brown,  of  the  Oriental,  and  an  officer,  introduced 


FORT  PICKENS.  217 

as  Captain  Barry  of  the  United  States  artillery,  were  waiting 
to  receive  us.  Major  Vogdes  said  that  Colonel  Brown  would 
most  gladly  permit  me  to  go  over  the  fort,  but  that  he  could 
not  receive  any  of  the  other  gentlemen  of  the  party ;  they 
were  permitted  to  wander  about  at  their  discretion.  Some 
friends  whom  they  picked  up  amongst  the  officers  took  them 
on  a  ride  along  the  island,  which  is  merely  a  sand-bank  cov 
ered  with  coarse  vegetation,  a  few  trees,  and  pools  of  brack 
ish  water. 

If  I  were  selecting  a  summer  habitation  I  should  certainly 
not  choose  Fort  Pickens.  It  is,  like  all  other  American  works 
I  have  seen,  strong  on  the  sea  faces  and  weak  toward  the 
land.  The  outer  gate  was  closed,  but  at  a  talismanic  knock 
from  Captain  Barry,  the  wicket  was  thrown  open  by  the 
guard,  and  we  passed  through  a  vaulted  gallery  into  the 
parade  ground,  which  was  full  of  men  engaged  in  strengthen 
ing  the  place,  and  digging  deep  pits  in  the  centre  as  shell  traps. 
The  men  were  United  States  regulars,  not  comparable  in  phy 
sique  to  the  Southern  volunteers,  but  infinitely  superior  in 
cleanliness  and  soldierly  smartness.  The  officer  on  duty  led 
me  to  one  of  the  angles  of  the  fort  and  turned  in  to  a  covered 
way,  which  had  been  ingeniously  contrived  by  tilting  up  gun 
platforms  and  beams  of  wood  at  an  angle  against  the  wall,  and 
piling  earth  and  sand  banks  against  them  for  several  feet  in 
thickness.  The  casemates,  which  otherwise  would  have  been 
exposed  to  a  plunging  fire  in  the  rear,  were  thus  effectually 
protected. 

Emerging  from  this  dark  passage  I  entered  one  of  the 
bomb-proofs,  fitted  up  as  a  bed-room,  and  thence  proceeded 
to  the  casemate,  in  which  Colonel  Harvey  Browne  has  his 
head-quarters.  After  some  conversation,  he  took  me  out  upon 
the  parapet  and  went  all  over  the  defences. 

Fort  Pickens  is  an  oblique,  and  somewhat  narrow  parallel 
ogram,  with  one  obtuse  angle  facing  the  sea  and  the  other 
toward  the  land.  The  bastion  at  the  acute  angle  toward  Bar 
rancas  is  the  weakest  part  of  the  work,  and  men  were  engaged 
in  throwing  up  an  extempore  glacis  to  cover  the  wall  and  the 
casemates  from  fire.  The  guns  were  of  what  is  considered 
small  calibre  in  these  days,  32  and  42  pounders,  with  four  or 
five  heavy  columbiads.  An  immense  amount  of  work  has 
been  done  within  the  last  three  weeks,  but  as  yet  the  prepara 
tions  are  by  no  means  complete.  From  the  walls,  which  are 
made  of  a  hard  baked  brick,  nine  feet  in  thickness,  there  is  a 
10 


218  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

good  view  of  the  enemy's  position.  There  is  a  broad  ditch 
round  the  work,  now  dry,  and  probably  not  intended  for  water. 
The  cuvette  has  lately  been  cleared  out,  and  in  proof  of  the 
agreeable  nature  of  the  locality,  the  officers  told  me  that  sixty 
very  fine  rattle-snakes  were  killed  by  the  workmen  during  the 
operation. 

As  I  was  looking  at  the  works  from  the  wall,  Captain  Vog- 
des  made  a  sly  remark  now  and  then,  blinking  his  eyes  and 
looking  closely  at  my  face  to  see  if  he  could  extract  any  infor 
mation.  "  There  are  the  quarters  of  your  friend  General 
Bragg  ;  he  pretends,  we  hear,  that  it  is  an  hospital,  but  we 
will  soon  have  him  out  when  we  open  fire."  "  Oh,  indeed." 
"  That's  their  best  battery  beside  the  light-house ;  we  can't 
well  make  out  whether  there  are  ten,  eleven,  or  twelve  guns 
in  it."  Then  Captain  Yogdes  became  quite  meditative,  and 
thought  aloud,  "  Well,  I'm  sure,  Colonel,  they've  got  a  strong 
entrenched  camp  in  that  wood  behind  their  morter  batteries. 
I'm  quite  sure  of  it  —  we  must  look  to  that  with  our  long 
range  guns."  What  the  engineer  saw,  must  have  been  certain 
absurd  little  furrows  in  the  sand,  which  the  Confederates  have 
thrown  up  about  three  feet  in  front  of  their  tents,  but  whether 
to  carry  off  or  to  hold  rain  water,  or  as  cover  for  rattle-snakes, 
the  best  judge  cannot  determine. 

The  Confederates  have  been  greatly  delighted  with  the  idea 
that  Pickens  will  be  almost  untenable  during  the  summer  for 
the  United  States  troops,  on  account  of  the  heat  and  mosquitos, 
not  to  speak  of  yellow  fever ;  but  in  fact  they  are  far  better 
off  than  the  troops  on  shore  —  the  casemates  are  exceedingly 
well  ventilated,  light  and  airy.  Mosquitos,  yellow  fever, 
and  dysentery,  will  make  no  distinction  between  Trojan  and 
Tyrian.  On  the  whole,  I  should  prefer  being  inside,  to  being 
outside  Pickens,  in  case  of  a  bombardment ;  and  there  can  be 
no  doubt  the  entire  destruction  of  the  navy  yard  and  sta 
tion  by  the  Federals  can  be  accomplished  whenever  they  please. 
Colonel  Browne  pointed  out  the  tall  chimney  at  Warrenton 
smoking  away,  and  said,  "  There,  sir,  is  the  whole  reason  of 
Bragg's  forbearance,  as  it  is  called.  Do  you  see  ?  —  they  are 
casting  shot  and  shell  there  as  fast  as  they  can.  They  know 
well  if  they  opened  a  gun  on  us  I  could  lay  that  yard  and 
all  their  works  there  in  ruin  ; "  and  Colonel  Harvey  Browne 
seems  quite  the  man  for  the  work  —  a  resolute,  energetic 
veteran,  animated  by  the  utmost  dislike  to  secession  and  its 
leaders,  and  full  of  what  are  called  "  Union  Principles," 


OFF  MOBILE.  219 

which  are  rapidly  becoming  the  mere  expression  of  a  desire 
to  destroy  life,  liberty,  property,  any  thing  in  fact  which  op 
poses  itself  to  the  consolidation  of  the  Federal  government. 

Probably  no  person  has  ever  been  permitted  to  visit  two 
hostile  camps  within  sight  of  each  other  save  myself.  I  was 
neither  spy,  herald,  nor  ambassador  ;  and  both  sides  trusted 
to  me  fully  on  the  understanding  that  I  would  not  make  use 
of  any  information  here,  but  that  it  might  be  communicated 
to  the  world  at  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

Apropos  of  this,  Colonel  Browne  told  me  an  amusing  story, 
which  shows  that  'cuteness  is  not  altogether  confined  to  the 
Yankees.  Some  days  ago  a  gentleman  was  found  wander 
ing  about  the  island,  who  stated  he  was  a  correspondent  of 
a  New  York  paper.  Colonel  Browne  was  not  satisfied  with 
the  account  he  gave  of  himself,  and  sent  him  on  board  one 
of  the  ships  of  the  fleet,  to  be  confined  as  a  prisoner.  Soon 
afterwards  a  flag  of  truce  came  over  from  the  Confederates, 
carrying  a  letter  from  General  Bragg,  requesting  Colonel 
Browne  to  give  up  the  prisoner,  as  he  had  escaped  to  the 
island  after  committing  a  felony,  and  enclosing  a  warrant 
signed  by  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  his  arrest.  Colonel 
Browne  laughed  at  the  ruse,  and  keeps  his  prisoner. 

As  it  was  approaching  evening  and  I  had  seen  every 
thing  in  the  fort,  the  hospital,  casemates,  magazines,  bake 
houses,  tasted  the  rations,  and  drank  the  whiskey,  I  set  out 
for  the  schooner,  accompanied  by  Colonel  Browne  and  Cap 
tain  Barry  and  other  officers,  and  picking  up  my  friends  at 
the  bakehouse  outside. 

Having  bidden  our  acquaintances  good-by,  we  got  on  board 
the  Diana,  which  steered  toward  the  Warrington  navy  yard, 
to  take  the  rest  of  the  party  on  board.  The  sentries  along 
the  beach  and  on  the  batteries  grounded  arms,  and  stared 
with  surprise  as  the  Diana,  with  her  tablecloth  flying,  crossed 
over  from  Fort  Pickens,  and  ran  slowly  along  the  Confeder 
ate  works.  Whilst  we  were  spying  for  the  Mobile  gentlemen, 
the  mate  took  it  into  his  head  to  take  up  the  Confederate 
bunting,  and  wave  it  over  the  quarter.  "  Hollo,  what's  that 
you're  doing  ? "  "  It's  only  a  signal  to  the  gentlemen  on 
shore."  "  Wave  some  other  flag,  if  you  please,  when  we  are 
in  these  waters,  with  a  flag  of  truce  flying." 

After  standing  off  and  on  for  some  time,  the  Mobilians  at 
last  boarded  us  in  a  boat.  They  were  full  of  excitement, 
quite  eager  to  stay  and  see  the  bombardment  which  must 


220  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

come  off  in  twenty- four  hours.  Before  we  left  Mobile  harbor 
I  had  made  a  bet  for  a  small  sum  that  neither  side  would 
attack  within  the  next  few  days ;  but  now  I  could  not  even 
shake  my  head  one  way  or  the  other,  and  it  required  the 
utmost  self-possession  and  artifice  of  which  I  was  master  to 
evade  the  acute  inquiries  and  suggestions  of  my  good  friends. 
I  was  determined  to  go  —  they  were  equally  bent  upon  re 
maining  ;  and  so  we  parted  after  a  short  but  very  pleasant 
cruise  together. 

We  had  arranged  with  Mr.  Brown  that  we  would  look  out 
for  him  on  leaving  the  harbor,  and  a  bottle  of  wine  was  put 
in  the  remnants  of  our  ice  to  drink  farewell ;  but  it  was  almost 
dark  as  the  Diana  shot  out  seawards  between  Pickens  and 
M'Rae ;  and  for  some  anxious  minutes  we  were  doubtful 
which  would  be  the  first  to  take  a  shot  at  us.  Our  tablecloth 
still  fluttered  ;  but  the  color  might  be  invisible.  A  lantern  was 
hoisted  astern  by  my  order  as  soon  as  the  schooner  was  clear  of 
the  forts ;  and  with  a  cool  sea-breeze  we  glided  out  into  the 
night,  the  black  form  of  the  Powhattan  being  just  visible,  the 
rest  of  the  squadron  lost  in  the  darkness.  We  strained  our 
eyes  for  the  Oriental,  but  in  vain ;  and  it  occurred  to  us  that 
it  would  scarcely  be  a  very  safe  proceeding  to  stand  from  the 
Confederate  forts  down  toward  the  guard-ship,  unless  under 
the  convoy  of  the  Oriental.  It  seemed  quite  certain  she 
must  be  cruising  some  way  to  the  westward,  waiting  for  us. 

The  wind  was  from  the  north,  on  the  best  point  for  our  re 
turn  ;  and  the  Diana,  heeling  over  in  the  smooth  water,  pro 
ceeded  on  her  way  toward  Mobile,  running  so  close  to  the 
shore  that  I  could  shy  a  biscuit  on  the  sand.  She  seemed  to 
breathe  the  wind  through  her  sails,  and  flew  with  a  crest  of 
flame  at  her  bow,  and  a  bubbling  wake  of  meteor-like  streams 
flowing  astern,  as  though  liquid  metal  were  flowing  from  a 
furnace. 

The  night  was  exceedingly  lovely,  but  after  the  heat  of  the 
day  the  horizon  was  somewhat  hazy.  "  No  sign  of  the  Ori 
ental  on  our  lee-bow?"  "Nothing  at  all  in  sight,  sir,  ahead 
or  astern."  Sharks  and  large  fish  ran  off  from  the  shallows 
as  we  passed,  and  rushed  out  seawards  in  runs  of  brilliant  light. 
The  Perdida  was  left  far  astern. 

On  sped  the  Diana,  but  no  Oriental  came  in  view.  I  felt 
exceedingly  tired,  heated,  and  fagged;  had  been  up  early, 
ridden  in  a  broiling  sun,  gone  through  batteries,  examined 
forts,  sailed  backwards  and  forwards,  so  I  was  glad  to  turn  in 


AN  EXCITING  CHASE.  221 

out  of  the  night  dew,  and,  leaving  injunctions  to  the  captain 
to  keep  a  bright  look  out  for  the  Federal  boarding  schooner, 
I  went  to  sleep  without  the  smallest  notion  that  I  had  seen 
my  last  of  Mr.  Brown. 

I  had  been  two  or  three  hours  asleep  when  I  was  awoke  by 
the  negro  cook,  who  was  leaning  over  the  berth,  and,  with 
teeth  chattering,  said,  "  Monsieur !  nous  somrnes  perdus !  un 
bailment  de  guerre  nous  poursuit  —  il  va  tirer  bientot.  Nous 
serons  coule  !  Oh,  Mon  Dieu  !  Oh,  Mon  Dieu  !  "  I  started 
up  and  popped  my  head  through  the  hatchway.  The  skipper 
himself  was  at  the  helm,  glancing  from  the  compass  to  the 
quivering  reef  points  of  the  mainsail.  "  What's  the  matter, 
captain  ?  "  "  Waal,  sir,"  said  the  captain,  speaking  very  slowly, 
"  There  has  been  a  something  a  running  after  us  for  nigh  the 
last  two  hours,  but  he  ain't  a  gaining  on  us.  I  don't  think 
he'll  kitch  us  up  nohow  this  time  ;  if  the  wind  holds  this  pint 
a  leetle,  Diana  will  beat  him." 

The  confidence  of  coasting  captains  in  their  own  craft  is  an 
hallucination  which  no  risk  or  danger  will  ever  prevent  them 
from  cherishing  most  tenderly.  There's  not  a  skipper  from 
Hartlepool  to  Whitstable  who  does  not  believe  his  Maryanne 
Smith  or  the  Two  Grandmothers  is  able,  "  on  certain  pints," 
to  bump  her  fat  bows,  and  drag  her  coal-scuttle  shaped  stern 
faster  through  the  sea  than  any  clipper  afloat.  I  was  once 
told  by  the  captain  of  a  Margate  Billy  Boy  he  believed  he 
could  run  to  windward  of  any  frigate  in  Her  Majesty's  service. 

"  But,  good  heavens,  man,  it  may  be  the  Oriental  —  no 
doubt  it  is  Mr.  Brown  who  is  looking  after  us."  "  Ah  !  Waal, 
may  be.  Whoever  it  i$,  he  creeped  quite  close  up  on  me  in 
the  dark.  It  give  me  quite  a  sterk  when  I  seen  him.  '  May 
be,'  says  I,  'he  is  a  privateering  —  pirating  —  chap.'  So  I 
runs  in  shore  as  close  as  I  could ;  gets  my  centre  board  in,  and, 
says  I,  '  I'll  see  what  you're  made  of,  my  boy.'  And  so  we 
goes  on.  He  ain't  a-gaining  on  us,  I  can  tell  you." 

I  looked  through  the  glass,  and  could  just  make  out,  half  or 
three  quarters  of  a  mile  astern,  and  to  leeward,  a  vessel  look 
ing  quite  black,  which  seemed  to  be  standing  on  in  pursuit  of 
us.  The  shore  was  so  close,  we  could  almost  have  leaped 
into  the  surf,  for  when  the  centre  board  was  up  the  Diana 
did  not  draw  much  more  than  four  feet  of  water.  The  skip 
per  held  grimly  on.  "  You  had  better  shake  your  wind,  and 
see  who  it  is  ;  it  may  be  Mr.  Brown."  "  No,  sir,  Mr.  Brown 
or  no,  I  can't  help  carrying  on  now  ;  there's  a  bank  runs  all 


222  MY   DIARY   NORTH  AXD   SOUTH. 

along  outside  of  us,  and  if  I  don't  hold  my  course  I'll  be  on  it 
in  one  minute."  I  confess  I  was  rather  annoyed,  but  the  cap 
tain  was  master  of  the  situation.  He  said,  that  if  it  had  been 
the  Oriental  she  would  have  fired  a  blank  gun  to  bring  us  to 
as  soon  as  she  saw  us.  To  my  inquiries  why  he  did  not 
awaken  me  when  she  was  first  made  out,  he  innocently  re 
plied,  "  You  was  in  such  a  beautiful  sleep,  I  thought  it  would 
be  regular  cruelty  to  disturb  you." 

By  creeping  close  in  shore  the  Diana  was  enabled  to  keep 
to  windward  of  the  stranger,  who  was  seen  once  or  twice  to 
bump  or  strike,  for  her  sails  shivered.  "  There,  she's  struck 
again."  "  She's  off  once  more,"  and  the  chase  is  renewed. 
Every  moment  I  expected  to  have  my  eyes  blinded  by  the 
flash  of  her  bow  gun,  but  for  some  reason  or  another,  possibly 
because  she  did  not  wish  to  check  her  way,  the  Oriental  — 
privateer,  or  whatever  it  was  —  saved  her  powder. 

A  stern  chase  is  a  long  chase.  It  is  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning  —  the  skipper  grinned  with  delight.  "  I'll  lead  him 
into  a  pretty  mess  if  he  follows  me  through  the  '  Swash/ 
whoever  he  is."  We  were  but  ten  miles  from  Fort  Morgan. 
Nearer  and  nearer  to  the  shore  creeps  the  Diana. 

"  Take  a  cast  of  the  lead,  John."  "  Nine  feet,"  "  Good. 
Again."  «  Seven  feet."  "  Again."  "  Five  feet."  "  Charlie, 
bring  the  lantern."  We  were  now  in  the  "  Swash,"  with  a 
boiling  tideway. 

Just  at  the  moment  that  the  negro  uncovered  the  lantern 
out  it  went,  a  fact  which  elicited  the  most  remarkable  amount 
of  imprecations  ear  ever  heard.  The  captain  went  dancing 
mad  in  intervals  of  deadly  calmness,  and  gave  his  com 
mands  to  the  crew,  and  strange  oaths  to  the  cook  alternately, 
as  the  mate  sung  out,  "  Five  feet  and  a  half."  "  About  she 
goes  !  Confound  you,  you  black  scoundrel,  I'll  teach  you," 
&c.,  &c.  "Six  feet!  Eight  feet  and  a  half !"  "  About  she 
comes  again."  "  Five  feet !  Four  feet  and  a  half."  (Oh, 
Lord  !  Six  inches  under  our  keel !)  And  so  we  went,  with 
a  measurement  between  us  and  death  of  inches,  not  by  any 
means  agreeable,  in  which  the  captain  showed  remarkable 
coolness  and  skill  in  the  management  of  his  craft,  combined 
with  a  most  unseemly  animosity  toward  his  unfortunate  cook. 

It  was  very  little  short  of  a  miracle  that  we  got  past  the 
"  Elbow,"  as  the  most  narrow  part  of  the  channel  is  called, 
for  it  was  just  at  the  critical  moment  the  binnacle  light  was 
extinguished,  and  went  out  with  a  splutter,  and  there  we 


THE  DIANA  RUNS  THE  BLOCKADE.  223 

were  left  in  darkness  in  a  channel  not  one  hundred  yards 
wide  and  only  six  feet  deep.  The  centre  board  also  got  jam 
med  once  or  twice  when  it  was  most  important  to  lie  as  close 
to  the  wind  as  possible  ;  but  at  last  the  captain  shouted  out, 
"  It's  all  right,  we're  in  deep  water,"  and  calling  the  mate 
to  the  helm  proceeded  to  relieve  his  mind  by  chasing  Charlie 
into  a  corner  and  belaboring  him  with  a  dead  shark  or  dog 
fish  about  four  feet  long,  which  he  picked  up  from  the  deck 
as  the  handiest  weapon  he  could  find.  For  the  whole  morn 
ing,  henceforth,  the  captain  found  great  comfort  in  making 
constant  charges  on  the  hapless  cook,  who  at  last  slyly  threw 
the  shark  overboard  at  a  favorable  opportunity,  and  forced 
his  master  to  resort  to  other  varieties  of  Rhadamantine  imple 
ments.  But  where  was  the  Oriental  all  this  time  ?  No  one 
could  say ;  but  Charlie,  who  seemed  an  authority  as  to  her 
movements,  averred  she  put  her  helm  round  as  soon  as  we 
entered  the  "  Swash,"  and  disappeared  in  black  night. 

The  Diana  had  thus  distinguished  herself  by  running  the 
blockade  of  Pensacola,  but  a  new  triumph  awaited  her.  As 
we  approached  Fort  Morgan  a  gray  streak  in  the  East  just 
offered  light  enough  to  distinguish  the  outlines  of  the  fort  and 
of  the  Confederate  flag  which  waved  above  it.  A  fair  breeze 
carried  us  abreast  of  the  signal  station,  one  solitary  light 
gleamed  from  the  walls,  but  neither  guard  boat  put  off  to 
board  us,  nor  did  sentry  hail,  nor  was  gun  fired  —  still  we 
stood  on.  "  Captain,  had  you  not  better  lie  to  ?  They'll  be 
sending  a  round  shot  after  us  presently."  "  No,  sir.  They  are 
all  asleep  in  that  fort,"  replied  the  indomitable  skipper. 

Down  went  his  helm  and  away  ran  the  Diana  into  Mobile 
Bay,  and  was  soon  safe  in  the  haze  beyond  shot  or  shell,  run 
ning  toward  the  opposite  shore.  This  was  glory  enough,  for 
the  Diana  of  Mobile.  The  wind  blew  straight  from  the  North 
into  our  teeth,  and  at  bright  sunrise  she  was  only  a  few  miles 
inside  the  bay. 

All  the  livelong  day  was  spent  in  tacking  from  one  low 
shore  to  another  low  shore,  through  water  which  looked  like 
pea  soup.  We  had  to  be  sure  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Mobile 
from  every  point  of  view,  east  and  west,  with  all  the  varieties 
between  northing  and  southing,  and  numerous  changes  in  the 
position  of  steeples,  sandhills,  and  villas,  the  sun  roasting  us 
all  the  time  and  boiling  the  pitch  out  of  the  seams. 

The  greatest  excitement  of  the  day  was  an  encounter  with 
a  young  alligator,  making  an  involuntary  voyage  out  to  sea 


224  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

in  the  tide-way.  The  crew  said  he  was  drowning,  having 
lost  his  way  or  being  exhausted  by  struggling  with  the  cur 
rent.  He  was  about  ten  feet  long,  and  appeared  to  be  so 
utterly  clone  up  that  he  would  willingly  have  come  aboard  as 
he  passed  within  two  yards  of  us ;  but  desponding  as  he  was, 
it  would  have  been  positive  cruelty  to  have  added  him  to  the 
number  of  our  party. 

The  next  event  of  the  day  was  dinner,  in  which  Charlie 
outrivalled  himself  by  a  tremendous  fry  of  onions  and  sliced 
Bologna  sausage,  and  a  piece  of  pig,  which  had  not  decided 
whether  it  was  to  be  pork  or  bacon. 

Having  been  fourteen  hours  beating  some  twenty-seven 
miles,  I  was  landed  at  last  at  a  wharf  in  the  suburbs  of  the 
town  about  five  o'clock  in  the  evening.  On  my  way  to  the 
Battle  House  I  met  seven  distinct  companies  marching  through 
the  streets  to  drill,  and  the  air  was  filled  with  sounds  of  bu 
gling  and  drumming.  In  the  evening  a  number  of  gentlemen 
called  upon  me  to  inquire  what  I  thought  of  Fort  Pickens 
and  Pensacola,  and  I  had  some  difficulty  in  parrying  their 
very  home  questions,  but  at  last  adopted  a  formula  which  ap 
peared  to  please  them  —  I  assured  my  friends  I  thought  it 
would  be  an  exceedingly  tough  business  whenever  the  bom 
bardment  took  place. 

One  of  the  most  important  steps  which  I  have  yet  heard  of 
has  excited  little  attention,  namely,  the  refusal  of  the  officer 
commanding  Fort  MacHenry,  at  Baltimore,  to  obey  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  issued  by  a  judge  of  that  city  for  the  person  of 
a  soldier  of  his  garrison.  This  military  officer  takes  upon 
himself  to  aver  there  is  a  state  of  civil  war  in  Baltimore, 
which  he  considers  sufficient  legal  cause  for  the  suspension  of 
the  writ. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Judge  Campbell  —  Dr.  Nott  —  Slavery  —  Departure  for  New  Orleans 
—  Down  the  river  —  Fear  of  Cruisers  —  Approach  to  New  Or 
leans —  Duelling — Streets  of  New  Orleans  —  Unhealthiness  of 
the  city  —  Public  opinion  as  to  the  war  —  Happy  and  contented 
negroes. 

May  ~[8th.  —  An  exceedingly  hot  day,  which  gives  bad 
promise  of  comfort  for  the  Federal  soldiers,  who  are  coming, 
as  the  Washington  Government  asserts,  to  put  down  rebellion 
in  these  quarters.  The  mosquitoes  are  advancing  in  numbers 
and  force.  The  day  I  first  came  I  asked  the  waiter  if  they 
were  numerous.  "  I  wish  they  were  a  hundred  times  as  many," 
said  he.  On  my  inquiring  if  he  had  any  possible  reason  for  such 
an  extraordinary  aspiration,  he  said,  "  because  we  would  get 
rid  of  these  darned  black  republicans  out  of  Fort  Pickens  all 
the  sooner."  The  man  seemed  to  infer  that  they  would  not 
bite  the  Confederate  soldiers. 

I  dined  at  Dr.  Nott's,  and  met  Judge  Campbell,  who  has 
resigned  his  high  post  as  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  and  explained  his  reasons  for  do 
ing  so  in  a  letter,  charging  Mr.  Seward  with  treachery,  dis 
simulation,  and  falsehood.  He  seemed  to  me  a  great  casuist 
rather  than  a  profound  lawyer,  and  to  delight  in  subtle  dis 
tinctions  and  technical  abstractions  ;  but  I  had  the  advantage 
of  hearing  from  him  at  great  length  the  whole  history  of  the 
Dred  Scott  case,  and  a  recapitulation  of  the  arguments  used 
on  both  sides,  the  force  of  which,  in  his  opinion,  was  irresist 
ibly  in  favor  of  the  decision  of  the  Court.  Mr.  Forsyth,  Col 
onel  Ilardee,  and  others  were  of  the  company. 

To  me  it  was  very  painful  to  hear  a  sweet  ringing  silvery 
voice,  issuing  from  a  very  pretty  mouth,  "  I'm  so  delighted  to 
hear  that  the  Yankees  in  Fortress  Monroe  have  got  typhus 
fever.  I  hope  it  may  kill  them  all."  This  was  said  by  one 
of  the  most  charming  young  persons  possible,  and  uttered  with 
10* 


226  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

unmistakable  sincerity,  just  as  if  she  had  said,  "  I  hear  all  the 
snakes  in  Virginia  are  dying  of  poison."  I  fear  the  young 
lady  did  not  think  very  highly  of  me  for  refusing  to  sympa 
thize  with  her  wishes  in  that  particular  form.  But  all  the 
ladies  in  Mobile  belong  to  "  The  Yankee  Emancipation  So 
ciety."  They  spend  their  days  sewing  cartridges,  carding  lint, 
preparing  bandages,  and  I'm  not  quite  sure  that  they  don't 
fill  shells  and  fuses  as  well.  Their  zeal  and  energy  will  go 
far  to  sustain  the  South  in  the  forthcoming  struggle,  and  no 
where  is  the  influence  of  women  greater  than  in  America. 

As  to  Dr.  Nott,  his  studies  have  induced  him  to  take  a 
purely  materialist  view  of  the  question  of  slavery,  and,  accord 
ing  to  him,  questions  of  morals  and  ethics,  pertaining  to  its 
consideration,  ought  to  be  referred  to  the  cubic  capacity  of  the 
human  cranium  —  the  head  that  can  take  the  largest  charge 
of  snipe  shot  will  eventually  dominate  in  some  form  or  other 
over  the  head  of  inferior  capacity.  Dr.  Nott  detests  slavery, 
but  he  does  not  see  what  is  to  be  done  with  the  slaves,  and 
how  the  four  millions  of  negroes  are  to  be  prevented  from  be 
coming  six,  eight,  or  ten  millions,  if  their  growth  is  stimulated 
by  high  prices  for  Southern  produce. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  force  in  the  observation  which  I 
have  heard  more  than  once  down  here,  that  Great  Britain 
could  not  have  emancipated  her  negroes  had  they  been  dwell 
ing  within  her  border,  say  in  Lancashire  or  Yorkshire.  No 
inconvenience  was  experienced  by  the  English  people  per  se 
in  consequence  of  the  emancipation,  which  for  the  time  de 
stroyed  industry  and  shook  society  to  pieces  in  Jamaica. 
Whilst  the  States  were  colonies,  Great  Britain  viewed  the 
introduction  of  slaves  to  such  remote  dependencies  with  sat 
isfaction,  and  when  the  United  States  had  established  their 
sovereignty  they  found  the  institution  of  slavery  established 
within  their  own  borders,  and  an  important,  if  not  essential, 
stratum  in  their  social  system.  The  work  of  emancipation 
would  have  then  been  comparatively  easy ;  it  now  is  a  stupen 
dous  problem  which  no  human  being  has  offered  to  solve. 

May  l$th.  —  The  heat  out  of  doors  was  so  great  that  I  felt 
little  tempted  to  stir  out,  but  at  two  o'clock  Mr.  Magee  drove 
me  to  a  pretty  place,  call  Spring  Hill,  where  Mr.  Stein,  a 
German  merchant  of  the  city,  has  his  country  residence.  The 
houses  of  Mobile  merchants  are  scattered  around  the  rising 
ground  in  that  vicinity ;  they  look  like  marble  at  a  distance, 
but  a  nearer  approach  resolves  them  into  painted  wood. 


MOBILE  TO  NEW  ORLEANS.  227 

Stone  is  almost  unknown  on  all  this  seaboard  region.  The 
worthy  German  was  very  hospitable,  and  I  enjoyed  a  cool 
walk  before  dinner  under  the  shade  of  his  grapes,  which 
formed  pleasant  walks  in  his  garden.  The  Scuppernung 
grape,  which  grew  in  profusion  —  a  native  of  North  Carolina 
—  has  a  remarkable  appearance.  The  stalk,  which  is  smooth, 
and  covered  with  a  close-grained  gray  bark,  has  not  the  char 
acter  of  a  vine,  but  grows  straight  and  stiff  like  the  branch  of 
a  tree,  and  is  crowded  with  delicious  grapes.  Cherokee  plum 
and  rose-trees,  and  magnificent  magnolias,  clustered  round  his 
house,  and  beneath  their  shadow  I  listened  to  the  worthy  Ger-  * 
man  comparing  the  Fatherland  to  his  adopted  country,  and 
now  and  then  letting  out  the  secret  love  of  his  heart  for  the 
old  place.  He,  like  all  of  the  better  classes  in  the  South,  has 
the  utmost  dread  of  universal  suffrage,  and  would  restrict  the 
franchise  largely  to-morrow  if  he  could. 

May  20.  —  I  left  Mobile  in  the  steamer  Florida  for  New 
Orleans  this  morning  at  eight  o'clock.  She  was  crowded  with 
passengers,  in  uniform.  In  my  cabin  was  a  notice  of  the  rules 
and  regulations  of  the  steamer.  No.  6  was  as  follows  :  "  All 
slave  servants  must  be  cleared  at  the  Custom  House.  Pas 
sengers  having  slaves  will  please  report  as  soon  as  they  come 
on  board." 

A  few  miles  from  Mobile  the  steamer,  turning  to  the  right, 
entered  one  of  the  narrow  channels  which  perforate  the  whole 
of  the  coast,  called  "  Grant's  Pass."  An  ingenious  person 
has  rendered  it  navigable  by  an  artificial  cut ;  but  as  he  was 
not  an  universal  philanthropist,  and  possibly  may  have  come 
from  north  of  the  Tweed,  he  further  erected  a  series  of  bar 
riers,  which  can  only  be  cleared  by  means  of  a  little  pepper- 
castor  iron  lighthouse  ;  and  he  charges  toll  on  all  passing  ves 
sels.  A  small  island  at  the  pass,  just  above  water-level,  about 
twenty  yards  broad  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  long,  was 
being  fortified.  Some  of  our  military  friends  landed  here  ;  and 
it  required  a  good  deal  of  patriotism  to  look  cheerfully  at  the 
prospect  of  remaining  cooped  up  among  the  mosquitoes  in  a 
box,  on  this  miserable  sand-bank,  which  a  shell  would  suffice 
to  blow  into  atoms. 

Having  passed  this  channel,  our  steamer  proceeded  up  a  kind 
of  internal  sea,  formed  by  the  shore,  on  the  right  hand  and  on 
the  left,  by  a  chain  almost  uninterrupted  of  reefs  covered  with 
sand,  and  exceedingly  narrow,  so  that  the  surf  of  the  ocean 
rollers  at  the  other  side  could  be  seen  through  the  foliage  of  the 


228  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

pine-trees  which  line  them.  On  our  right  the  endless  pines 
closed  up  the  land  view  of  the  horizon  ;  the  beach  was  pierced 
by  creeks  without  number,  called  bayous  ;  and  it  was  curious 
to  watch  the  white  sails  of  the  little  schooners  gliding  in  and 
out  among  the  trees  along  the  green  meadows  that  seemed  to 
stretch  as  an  impassable  barrier  to  their  exit.  Immense  troops 
of  pelicans  flapped  over  the  sea,  dropping  incessantly  on  the 
fish  which  abounded  in  the  inner  water  ;  and  long  rows  of  the 
same  birds  stood  digesting  their  plentiful  meals  on  the  white 
beach  by  the  ocean  foam. 

There  was  some  anxiety  in  the  passengers'  minds,  as  it  was 
reported  that  the  United  States  cruisers  had  been  seen  inside,  and 
that  they  had  even  burned  the  batteries  on  Ship  Island.  We 
saw  nothing  of  a  character  more  formidable  than  coasting 
craft  and  a  return  steamer  from  New  Orleans  till  we  ap 
proached  the  entrance  to  Pontchartrain,  when  a  large  schooner, 
which  sailed  like  a  witch  and  was  crammed  with  men,  attracted 
our  attention.  Through  the  glass  I  could  make  out  two  guns 
on  her  deck,  and  quite  reason  enough  for  any  well-filled  mer 
chantman  sailing  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes  to  avoid  her  close 
companionship. 

The  approach  to  New  Orleans  is  indicated  by  large  hamlets 
and  scattered  towns  along  the  seashore,  hid  in  the  piney  woods, 
which  offer  a  retreat  to  the  merchants  and  their  families  from 
the  fervid  heat  of  the  unwholesome  city  in  summer  time. 
As  seen  from  the  sea,  these  sanitary  settlements  have  a  pic 
turesque  effect,  and  an  air  of  charming  freshness  and  lightness. 
There  are  detached  villas  of  every  variety  of  architecture  in 
which  timber  can  be  constructed,  painted  in  the  brightest  hues 
—  greens,  and  blues,  and  rose  tints  —  each  embowered  in 
magnolias  and  rhododendrons.  From  every  garden  a  very  long 
and  slender  pier,  terminated  by  a  bathing-box,  stretches  into 
the  shallow  sea  ;  and  the  general  aspect  of  these  houses,  with 
the  light  domes  and  spires  of  churches  rising  above  the  lines 
of  white  railings  set  in  the  dark  green  of  the  pines,  is  light  and 
novel.  To  each  of  these  cities  there  is  a  jetty,  at  two  of 
which  we  touched,  and  landed  newspapers,  received  or  dis 
charged  a  few  bales  of  goods,  and  were  off  again. 

Of  the  little  crowd  assembled  on  each,  the  majority  were 
blacks  — the  whites,  almost  without  exception,  in  uniform,  and 
armed.  A  near  approach  did  not  induce  me  to  think  that  any 
agencies  less  powerful  than  epidemics  and  summer-heats  could 
render  Pascagoula,  Passchristian,  Mississippi  City,  and  the 


AN  AMERICAN  DIFFICULTY.  229 

rest  of  these  settlements  very  eligible  residences  for  people  of 
an  active  turn  of  rnind. 

The  livelong  day  my  fellow-passengers  never  ceased  talk 
ing  politics,  except  when  they  were  eating  and  drinking, 
because  the  horrible  chewing  and  spitting  are  not  at  all  in 
compatible  with  the  maintenance  of  active  discussion.  The 
fiercest  of  them  all  was  a  thin,  fiery-eyed  little  woman,  who  at 
dinner  expressed  a  fervid  desire  for  bits  of  "  Old  Abe  " —  his 
ear,  his  hair ;  but  whether  for  the  purpose  of  eating  or  as 
curious  relics,  she  did  not  enlighten  the  company. 

After  dinner  there  was  some  slight  difficulty  among  the  mil 
itary  gentlemen,  though  whether  of  a  political  or  personal 
character,  I  could  not  determine ;  but  it  was  much  aggravated 
by  the  appearance  of  a  six-shooter  on  the  scene,  which,  to  my 
no  small  perturbation,  was  presented  in  a  right  line  with  my 
berth,  out  of  the  window  of  which  I  was  looking  at  the  com 
batants.  I  am  happy  to  say  the  immediate  delivery  of  the 
fire  was  averted  by  an  amicable  arrangement  that  the  disputants 
should  meet  at  the  St.  Charles  Hotel  at  twelve  o'clock  on  the 
second  day  after  their  arrival,  in  order  to  fix  time,  place,  and 
conditions  of  a  more  orthodox  and  regular  encounter. 

At  night  the  steamer  entered  a  dismal  canal,  through  a 
swamp  which  is  infamous  as  the  most  mosquito  haunted  place 
along  the  infested  shore  ;  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi  them 
selves  being  quite  innocent,  compared  to  the  entrance  of  Lake 
Pontchartrain.  When  I  woke  up  at  daylight,  I  found  the 
vessel  lying  alongside  a  wharf  with  a  railway  train  alongside, 
which  is  to  take  us  to  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  six  miles  dis 
tant. 

A  village  of  restaurants  or  "  restaurats,"  as  they  are  called 
here,  and  of  bathing  boxes  has  grown  up  around  the  terminus ; 
all  the  names  of  the  owners,  the  notices  and  sign-boards  being 
French.  Outside  the  settlement  the  railroad  passes  through  a 
swamp,  like  an  Indian  jungle,  through  which  the  overflowings 
of  the  Mississippi  creep  in  black  currents.  The  spires  of  New 
Orleans  rise  above  the  underwood  and  semi-tropical  vegeta 
tion  of  this  swamp.  Nearer  to  the  city  lies  a  marshy  plain, 
in  which  flocks  of  cattle,  up  to  the  belly  in  the  soft  earth  are 
floundering  among  the  clumps  of  vegetation.  The  nearer 
approach  to  New  Orleans  by  rail  lies  through  a  suburb  of 
exceedingly  broad  lanes,  lined  on  each  side  by  rows  of  miser 
able  mean  one-storied  houses,  inhabited,  if  I  am  to  judge  from 
the  specimens  I  saw,  by  a  miserable  and  sickly  population. 


230  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH.4 

A  great  number  of  the  men  and  women  had  evident  traces 
of  negro  blood  in  their  veins,  and  of  the  purer  blooded  whites 
many  had  the  peculiar  look  of  the  fishy-fleshy  population  of 
the  Levantine  towns,  and  all  were  pale  and  lean.  The  rail- 
Avay  terminus  is  marked  by  a  dirty,  barrack -like  shed  in  the 
city.  Selecting  one  of  the  numerous  tumble-down  hackney 
carriages  which  crowded  the  street  outside  the  station,  I 
directed  the  man  to  drive  me  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Mure,  the 
British  consul,  who  had  been  kind  enough  to  invite  me  as  his 
guest  for  the  period  of  my  stay  in  New  Orleans. 

The  streets  are  badly  paved,  as  those  of  most  of  the  Ameri 
can  cities,  if  not  all  that  I  have  ever  been  in,  but  in  other  re 
spects  they  are  more  worthy  of  a  great  city  than  are  those  of 
New  York  There  is  an  air  thoroughly  French  about  the 
people  —  cafes,  restaurants,  billiard-rooms  abound,  with  oyster 
and  lager-bier  saloons  interspersed.  The  shops  are  all  maga- 
zins  ;  the  people  in  the  streets  are  speaking  French,  particu 
larly  the  negroes,  who  are  going  out  shopping  with  their  mas 
ters  and  mistresses,  exceedingly  well  dressed,  noisy,  and  not 
unhappy  looking.  The  extent  of  the  drive  gave  an  imposing 
idea  of  the  size  of  New  Orleans  —  the  richness  of  some  of  the 
shops,  the  vehicles  in  the  streets,  and  the  multitude  of  well- 
dressed  people  on  the  pavements,  an  impression  of  its  wealth 
and  the  comfort  of  the  inhabitants,  The  Confederate  flag  was 
flying  from  the  public  buildings  and  from  many  private  houses. 
Military  companies  paraded  through  the  streets,  and  a  large 
proportion  of  men  were  in  uniform. 

In  the  day  I  drove  through  the  city,  delivered  letters  of  in 
troduction,  paid  visits,  and  examined  the  shops  and  the  public 
places  ;  but  there  is  such  a  whirl  of  secession  and  politics  sur 
rounding  one  it  is  impossible  to  discern  much  of  the  outer 
world. 

Whatever  may  be  the  number  of  the  Unionists  or  of  the 
non-secessionists,  a  pressure  too  potent  to  be  resisted  has  been 
directed  by  the  popular  party  against  the  friends  of  the 
Federal  government.  The  agent  of  Brown  Brothers,  of 
Liverpool  and  New  York,  has  closed  their  office  and  is  go 
ing  away  in  consequence  of  the  intimidation  of  the  mob,  or  as 
the  phrase  is  here,  the  "  excitement  of  the  citizens,"  on  hear 
ing  of  the  subscription  made  by  the  firm  to  the  New  York 
fund,  after  Surnter  had  been  fired  upon.  Their  agent  in 
Mobile  has  been  compelled  to  adopt  the  same  course.  Other 
houses  follow  their  example,  but  as  most  business  transactions 


OPINIONS   ON  THE  WAR.  231 

are  over  for  the  season,  the  mercantile  community  hope  the 
contest  will  be  ended  before  the  next  season,  by  the  recog 
nition  of  Southern  Independence. 

The  streets  are  full  of  Turcos,  Zouaves,  Chasseurs ;  walls 
are  covered  with  placards  of  volunteer  companies ;  there  are 
Pickwick  rifles,  La  Fayette,  Beauregard,  MacMahon  guards, 
Irish,  German,  Italian  and  Spanish  and  native  volunteers, 
among  whom  the  Meagher  rifles,  indignant  with  the  gentle 
man  from  whom  they  took  their  name,  because  of  his  adhe 
sion  to  the  North,  are  going  to  rebaptize  themselves  and  to 
seek  glory  under  one  more  auspicious.  In  fact,  New  Orleans 
looks  like  a  suburb  of  the  camp  at  Chalons.  Tailors  are  busy 
night  and  day  making  uniforms.  I  went  into  a  shop  with  the 
consul  for  some  shirts  —  the  mistress  and  all  her  seamstresses 
were  busy  preparing  flags  as  hard  as  the  sewing-machine 
could  stitch  them,  and  could  attend  to  no  business  for  the 
present.  The  Irish  population,  finding  themselves  unable  to 
migrate  northwards,  and  being  without  work,  have  rushed  to 
arms  with  enthusiasm  to  support  Southern  institutions,  and 
Mr.  John  Mitchell  and  Mr.  Meagher  stand  opposed  to  each 
other  in  hostile  camps. 

May  22d.  —  The  thermometer  to-day  marked  95°  in  the 
shade.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  New  Orleans  suffers 
from  terrible  epidemics.  At  the  side  of  each  street  a  filthy 
open  sewer  flows  to  and  fro  with  the  tide  in  the  blazing  sun, 
and  Mr.  Mure  tells  me  the  city  lies  so  low  that  he  has  been 
obliged  to  go  to  his  office  in  a  boat  along  the  streets. 

I  sat  for  some  time  listening  to  the  opinions  of  the  various 
merchants  who  came  in  to  talk  over  the  news  and  politics  in 
general.  They  were  all  persuaded  that  Great  Britain  would 
speedily  recognize  the  South,  but  I  cannot  find  that  any  of 
them  had  examined  into  the  effects  of  such  a  recognition.  One 
gentleman  seemed  to  think  to-day  that  recognition  meant  forcing 
the  blockade ;  whereas  it  must,  as  I  endeavored  to  show  him, 
merely  lead  to  the  recognition  of  the  rights  of  the  United  States 
to  establish  a  blockade  of  ports  belonging  to  an  independent 
and  hostile  nation.  There  are  some  who  maintain  there  will  be 
no  war  after  all ;  that  the  North  will  not  fight,  and  that  the 
friends  of  the  Southern  cause  will  recover  their  courage  when 
this  tyranny  is  over.  No  one  imagines  the  South  will  ever 
go  back  to  the  Union  voluntarily,  or  that  the  North  has  power 
to  thrust  it  back  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

The  South  has  commenced  preparations  for  the  contest  by 


232  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

sowing  grain  instead  of  planting  cotton,  to  compensate  for  the 
loss  of  supplies  from  the  North.  The  payment  of  debts  to 
Northern  creditors  is  declared  to  be  illegal,  and  "  stay  laws  " 
have  been  adopted  in  most  of  the  seceding  States,  by  which  the 
ordinary  laws  for  the  recovery  of  debts  in  the  States  them 
selves  are  for  the  time  suspended,  which  may  lead  one  into 
the  belief  that  the  legislators  themselves  belong  to  the  debtor 
instead  of  the  creditor  class. 

May  23d.  —  As  the  mail  communication  has  been  suspend 
ed  between  North  and  South,  and  the  Express  Companies  are 
ordered  not  to  carry  letters,  I  sent  off  my  packet  of  despatches 
to-day,  by  Mr.  Ewell,  of  the  house  of  Dennistoun  &  Co. ; 
and  resumed  rny  excursions  through  New  Orleans. 

The  young  artist,  who  is  stopping  at  the  St.  Charles  Hotel, 
came  to  me  in  great  agitation  to  say  his  life  was  in  danger,  in 
consequence  of  his  former  connection  with  an  abolition  paper 
of  New  York,  and  that  he  had  been  threatened  with  death  by 
a  man  with  whom  he  had  had  a  quarrel  in  Washington.  Mr. 
Mure,  to  calm  his  apprehensions,  offered  to  take  him  to  the 
authorities  of  the  town,  who  would,  no  doubt,  protect  him,  as 
he  was  merely  engaged  in  making  sketches  for  an  English 
periodical,  but  the  young  man  declared  he  was  in  danger  of 
assassination.  He  entreated  Mr.  Mure  to  give  him  despatches 
which  would  serve  to  protect  him.  on  his  way  northward  ;  and 
the  Consul,  moved  by  his  mental  distress,  promised  that  if  he 
had  any  letters  of  an  official  character  for  Washington  he 
would  send  them  by  him,  in  default  of  other  opportunities. 

I  dined  with  Major  Ranney,  the  president  of  one  of  the 
railways,  with  whom  Mr.  Ward  was  stopping.  Among  the 
company  were  Mr.  Eustis,  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Slidell  ;  Mr. 
Morse,  the  Attorney-General  of  the  State  ;  Mr.  Moise,  a  Jew, 
supposed  to  have  considerable  influence  with  the  Governor, 
and  a  vehement  politician  ;  Messrs.  Hunt,  and  others.  The 
table  was  excellent,  and  the  wines  were  worthy  of  the  reputation 
which  our  host  enjoys,  in  a  city  where  Sallusts  and  Luculli  are 
said  to  abound.  One  of  the  slave  servants  who  waited  at 
table,  an  intelligent  yellow  "  boy,"  was  pointed  out  to  me  as  a 
son  of  General  Andrew  Jackson. 

We  had  a  full  account  of  the  attack  of  the  British  troops 
on  the  city,  and  their  repulse.  Mr.  Morse  denied  emphatical 
ly  that  there  was  any  cotton  bag  fortification  in  front  of  the 
lines,  where  our  troops  were  defeated  ;  he  asserted  that  there 
were  only  a  few  bales,  I  think  seventy-five,  used  in  the  con- 


FEARS  OF  NEGRO  REVOLT.  233 

struction  of  one  battery,  and  that  they  and  some  sugar  hogs 
heads,  constituted  the  sole  defences  of  the  American  trench. 
Only  one  citizen  applied  to  the  State  for  compensation,  on 
account  of  the  cotton  used  by  Jackson's  troops,  and  he  owned 
the  whole  of  the  bales  so  appropriated. 

None  of  the  Southern  gentlemen  have  the  smallest  appre 
hension  of  a  servile  insurrection.  They  use  the  univeral  for 
mula  "  our  negroes  are  the  happiest,  most  contented,  and  most 
comfortable  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth."  I  admit  I  have 
been  struck  by  well-clad  and  good-humored  negroes  in  the 
streets,  but  they  are  in  the  minority  ;  many  look  morose,  ill- 
clad,  and  discontented.  The  patrols  I  know  have  been  strength 
ened,  and  I  heard  a  young  lady  the  other  night,  say,  "  I  shall 
not  be  a  bit  afraid  to  go  back  to  the  plantation,  though  mamma 
says  the  negroes  are  after  mischief." 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

The  first  blow  struck  —  The  St.  Charles  Hotel  —  Invasion  of  Virginia 
by  the  Federals — Death  of  Col.  Ellsworth  —  Evening  at  Mr. 
Siidell's —  Public  comments  on  the  war  —  Richmond  the  capital 
of  the  Confederacy  —  Military  preparations  —  General  society  — 
Jewish  element  —  Visit  to  a  battle-field  of  1815. 

May  24cth.  —  A  great  budget  of  news  to-day,  which,  with 
the  events  of  the  week,  may  be  briefly  enumerated.  The 
fighting  has  actually  commenced  between  the  United  States 
steamers  off  Fortress  Monroe,  and  the  Confederate  battery 
erected  at  Sewall's  Point  —  both  sides  claim  a  certain  success. 
The  Confederates  declare  they  riddled  the  steamer,  and  that 
they  killed  and  wounded  a  number  of  the  sailors.  The  cap 
tain  of  the  vessel  says  he  desisted  from  want  of  ammunition, 
but  believes  he  killed  a  number  of  the  rebels,  and  knows  he 
had  no  loss  himself.  Beriah  Magoffin,  Governor  of  the  sover 
eign  State  of  Kentucky,  has  warned  off  both  Federal  and 
Confederate  soldiers  from  his  territory.  The  Confederate 
congress  has  passed  an  act  authorizing  persons  indebted  to  the 
United  States,  except  Delaware,  Maryland,  Kentucky,  Mis 
souri,  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  to  pay  the  amount  of  their 
debts  to  the  Confederate  treasury.  The  State  convention  of 
North  Carolina  has  passed  an  ordinance  of  secession.  Ar 
kansas  has  sent  its  delegates  to  the  Southern  congress.  Sev 
eral  Southern  vessels  have  been  made  prizes  by  the  block 
ading  squadron  ;  but  the  event  which  causes  the  greatest 
excitement  and  indignation  here,  was  the  seizure,  on  Monday, 
by  the  United  States  marshals,  in  every  large  city  through 
out  the  Union,  of  the  telegraphic  despatches  of  the  last  twelve 
months. 

In  the  course  of  the  day,  I  went  to  the  St.  Charles  Hotel, 
which  is  an  enormous  establishment,  of  the  American  type, 
with  a  Southern  character  about  it.  A  number  of  gentlemen 
were  seated  in  the  hall,  and  front  of  the  office,  with  their  legs 
up  against  the  wall,  and  on  the  backs  of  chairs,  smoking,  spit- 


ELLSWORTH   SHOT.  235 

ting,  and  reading  the  papers.  Officers  crowded  the  bar.  The 
bustle  and  noise  of  the  place  would  make  it  anything  but  an 
agreeable  residence  for  one  fond  of  quiet ;  but  this  hotel  is 
famous  for  its  difficulties.  Not  the  least  disgraceful  among 
them,  was  the  assault  committed  by  some  of  Walker's  fili 
busters,  upon  Captain  Aldham  of  the  Royal  Navy. 

The  young  artist,  who  has  been  living  in  great  seclusion, 
was  fastened  up  in  his  room  ;  and  when  I  informed  him  that 
Mr.  Mure  had  despatches  which  he  might  take,  if  he  liked, 
that  night,  he  was  overjoyed  to  excess.  He  started  off  north 
in  the  evening,  and  I  saw  him  no  more. 

At  half-past  four,  I  went  down  by  train  to  the  terminus  on 
the  lake,  where  I  had  landed,  which  is  the  New  Orleans  Rich 
mond,  or  rather,  Greenwich,  and  dined  with  Mr.  Eustis,  Mr. 
Johnson,  an  English  merchant,  Mr.  Josephs,  a  New  Orleans 
lawyer,  and  Mr.  Hunt.  The  dinner  was  worthy  of  the  repu 
tation  of  the  French  cook.  The  terrapin  soup  excellent, 
though  not  comparable,  as  Americans  assert,  to  the  best  tur 
tle.  The  creature  from  which  it  derives  its  name,  is  a  small 
tortoise  ;  the  flesh  is  boiled  somewrhat  in  the  manner  of  turtle, 
but  the  soup  abounds  in  small  bones,  and  the  black  paws  with 
the  white  nail-like  stumps  projecting  from  them,  found  amongst 
the  disjecta  membra,  are  not  agreeable  to  look  upon.  The 
bouillabaisse  was  unexceptionable,  the  soft  crab  worthy  of 
every  commendation  ;  but  the  best  dish  was,  unquestionably, 
the  pompinoe,  an  odd  fish,  something  like  an  unusually  ugly 
John  Dory,  but  possessing  admirable  qualities  in  all  that 
makes  fish  good.  The  pleasures  of  the  evening  were  en 
hanced  by  a  most  glorious  sunset,  which  cast  its  last  rays 
through  a  wilderness  of  laurel  roses  in  full  bloom,  which 
thronged  the  garden.  At  dusk,  the  air  was  perfectly  alive 
with  fire-flies  and  strange  beetles.  Flies  and  coleopters 
buzzed  in  through  the  open  windows,  and  flopped  among  the 
glasses.  At  half-past  nine  we  returned  home,  in  cars  drawn 
by  horses  along  the  rail. 

May  25th.  —  Virginia  has  indeed  been  invaded  by  the  Fed 
erals.  Alexandria  has  been  seized.  It  is  impossible  to  de 
scribe  the  excitement  and  rage  of  the  people  ;  they  take,  how 
ever,  some  consolation  in  the  fact  that  Colonel  Ellsworth,  in 
command  of  a  regiment  of  New  York  Zouaves,  was  shot  by 
J.  T.  Jackson,  the  landlord  of  an  inn  in  the  city,  called  the 
Marshall  House.  Ellsworth,  on  the  arrival  of  his  regiment  in 
Alexandria,  proceeded  to  take  down  the  Secession  flag,  which 


236  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

had  been  long  seen  from  the  President's  windows.  He  went  out 
upon  the  roof,  cut  it  from  the  staff,  and  was  proceeding  with  it 
down-stairs,  when  a  man  rushed  out  of  a  room,  levelled  a  double- 
barrelled  gun,  shot  Colonel  Ellsworth  dead,  and  fired  the  other 
barrel  at  one  of  his  men,  who  had  struck  at  the  piece,  when 
the  murderer  presented  it  at  the  Colonel.  Almost  instantane 
ously,  the  Zouave  shot  Jackson  in  the  head,  and  as  he  was 
falling  dead  thrust  his  sabre  bayonet  through  his  body.  Strange 
to  say,  the  people  of  New  Orleans,  consider  Jackson  was  com 
pletely  right,  in  shooting  the  Federal  Colonel,  and  maintain 
that  the  Zouave,  who  shot  Jackson,  was  guilty  of  murder. 
Their  theory  is  that  Ellsworth  had  come  over  with  a  horde 
of  ruffianly  abolitionists,  or,  as  the  "  Richmond  Examiner"  has 
it,  "  the  band  of  thieves,  robbers,  and  assassins,  in  the  pay  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  commonly  known  as  the  United  States 
Army,"  to  violate  the  territory  of  a  sovereign  State,  in  order 
to  execute  their  bloody  and  brutal  purposes,  and  that  he  was 
in  the  act  of  committing  a  robbery,  by  taking  a  flag  which  did 
not  belong  to  him,  when  he  met  his  righteous  fate. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  how  passion  blinds  man's  reason,  in 
this  quarrel.  More  curious  still  to  see,  by  the  light  of  this 
event,  how  differently  the  same  occurrence  is  viewed  by 
Northerners  and  Southerners  respectively.  Jackson  is  depict 
ed  in  the  Northern  papers  as  a  fiend  and  an  assassin  ;  even 
his  face  in  death  is  declared  to  have  worn  a  revolting  expres 
sion  of  rage  and  hate.  The  Confederate  flag  which  was  the 
cause  of  the  fatal  affray,  is  described  by  one  writer,  as  having 
been  purified  of  its  baseness,  by  contact  with  Ellsworth's  blood. 
The  invasion  of  Virginia  is  hailed  on  all  sides  of  the  North 
with  the  utmost  enthusiasm.  "  Ellsworth  is  a  martyr  hero, 
whose  name  is  to  be  held  sacred  forever." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Southern  papers  declare  that  the  in 
vasion  of  Virginia,  is  "an  act  of  the  Washington  tyrants, 
which  indicates  their  bloody  and  brutal  purpose  to  exterminate 
the  Southern  people.  The  Virginians  will  give  the  world 
another  proof,  like  that  of  Moscow,  that  a  free  people,  fighting 
on  a  free  soil,  are  invincible  when  contending  for  all  that  is 
dear  to  man."  Again  —  "A  band  of  execrable  cut-throats  and 
jail-birds,  known  as  the  Zouaves  of  New  York,  under  that 
chief  of  all  scoundrels,  Ellsworth,  broke  open  the  door  of  a 
citizen,  to  tear  down  the  flag  of  the  house  —  the  courageous 
owner  met  the  favorite  hero  of  the  Yankees  in  his  own  hall, 
alone,  against  thousands,  and  shot  him  through  the  heart  —  he 


MR.   SLIDELL.  237 

died  a  death  which  emperors  might  envy,  and  his  memory  will 
live  through  endless  generations."  Desperate,  indeed,  must 
have  been  the  passion  and  anger  of  the  man  who,  in  the  fullest 
certainty  that  immediate  death  must  be  its  penalty,  committed 
such  a  deed.  As  it  seems  to  me,  Colonel  Ellsworth,  however 
injudicious  he  may  have  been,  was  actually  in  the  performance 
of  his  duty  when  taking  down  the  flag  of  an  enemy. 

In  the  evening  I  visited  Mr.  Slidell,  whom  I  found  at  home, 
with  his  family,  Mrs.  Slidell  and  her  sister  Madame  Beaure- 
gard,  wife  of  the  general,  two  very  charming  young  ladies, 
daughters  of  the  house,  and  a  parlor  full  of  fair  companions, 
engaged,  as  hard  as  they  could,  in  carding  lint  with  their  fair 
hands.  Among  the  company  was  Mr.  Slidell's  son,  who  had 
just  travelled  from  school  at  the  North,  under  a  feigned  name, 
in  order  to  escape  violence  at  the  hands  of  the  Union  mobs 
which  are  said  to  be  insulting  and  outraging  every  Southern 
man.  The  conversation,  as  is  the  case  in  most  Creole  domestic 
circles,  was  carried  on  in  French.  I  rarely  met  a  man  whose 
features  have  a  greater  finesse  and  firmness  of  purpose  than 
Mr.  Slidell's  ;  his  keen  gray  eye  is  full  of  life  ;  his  thin,  firmly- 
set  lips  indicate  resolution  and  passion.  Mr.  Slidell,  though 
born  in  a  Northern  State,  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  deter 
mined  disunionists  in  the  Southern  Confederacy  ;  he  is  not  a 
speaker  of  note,  nor  a  ready  stump  orator,  nor  an  able  writer; 
but  he  is  an  excellent  judge  of  mankind,  adroit,  persevering, 
and  subtle,  full  of  device,  and  fond  of  intrigue ;  one  of  those 
men,  who,  unknown  almost  to  the  outer  world,  organizes  and 
sustains  a  faction,  and  exalts  it  into  the  position  of  a  party  — 
what  is  called  here  a  "  wire-puller."  Mr.  Slidell  is  to  the 
South  something  greater  than  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  has  been  to 
his  party  in  the  North.  He,  like  every  one  else,  is  convinced 
that  recognition  must  come  soon  ;  but,  under  any  circumstances, 
he  is  quite  satisfied,  the  government  and  independence  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy  are  as  completely  established  as  those 
of  any  power  in  the  world.  Mr.  Slidell  and  the  members  of 
his  family  possess  naivete,  good  sense,  and  agreeable  man 
ners  ;  and  the  regrets  I  heard  expressed  in  Washington 
society,  at  their  absence,  had  every  justification. 

I  supped  at  the  club,  which  I  visited  every  day  since  I  was 
made  an  honorary  member,  as  all  the  journals  are  there,  and 
a  great  number  of  planters  and  merchants,  well  acquainted 
with  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  South.  There  were  two  Eng 
lishmen  present,  Mr.  Lingain  and  another,  the  most  deter- 


238  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

mined  secessionists  and  the  most  devoted  advocates  of  slavery 
I  have  yet  met  in  the  course  of  my  travels. 

May  26th.  —  The  heat  to-day  was  so  great,  that  I  felt  a 
return  of  my  old  Indian  experiences,  and  was  unable  to  go, 
as  I  intended,  to  hear  a  very  eminent  preacher  discourse  on 
the  war  at  one  of  the  principal  chapels. 

All  disposable  regiments  are  on  the  march  to  Virginia.  It 
was  bad  policy  for  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  to  menace  Washington 
before  he  could  seriously  carry  out  his  threats,  because  the 
North  was  excited  by  the  speech  of  his  Secretary  at  War  to 
take  extraordinary  measures  for  the  defence  of  their  capital ; 
and  General  Scott  was  enabled  by  their  enthusiasm  not  only 
to  provide  for  its  defence,  but  to  effect  a  lodgment  at  Alexan 
dria,  as  a  base  of  operations  against  the  enemy. 

When  the  Congress  at  Montgomery  adjourned,  the  other 
day,  they  resolved  to  meet  on  the  20th  of  July  at  Richmond, 
which  thus  becomes  the  capital  of  the  Confederacy.  The 
city  is  not  much  more  than  one  hundred  miles  south  of  Wash 
ington,  with  which  it  Mras  in  communication  by  rail  and  river ; 
and  the  selection  must  cause  a  collision  between  the  two  ar 
mies  in  front  of  the  rival  capitals.  The  seizure  of  the  Nor 
folk  navy  yard  by  the  Confederates  rendered  it  necessary  to 
reinforce  Fortress  Monroe  ;  and  for  the  present  the  Potomac 
and  the  Chesapeake  are  out  of  danger. 

The  military  precautions  taken  by  General  Scott,  and  the 
movements  attributed  to  him  to  hold  Baltimore  and  to  main 
tain  his  communications  between  Washington  and  the  North, 
afford  evidence  of  judgment  and  military  skill.  The  North 
ern  papers  are  clamoring  for  an  immediate  advance  of  their 
raw  levies  to  Richmond,  which  General  Scott  resists. 

In  one  respect  the  South  has  shown  greater  sagacity  than 
the  North.  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  having  seen  service  in  the 
field,  and  having  been  Secretary  of  War,  perceived  the  dan 
gers  and  inefficiency  of  irregular  levies,  and  therefore  induced 
the  Montgomery  congress  to  pass  a  bill  which  binds  volun 
teers  to  serve  during  the  war,  unless  sooner  discharged,  and 
reserves  to  the  President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  the 
appointment  of  staff  and  field  officers,  the  right  of  veto  to 
battalion  officers  elected  by  each  company,  and  the  power  of 
organizing  companies  of  volunteers  into  squadrons,  battalions, 
and  regiments.  Writing  to  the  "Times,"  at  this  date,  I  observed : 
"  Although  immense  levies  of  men  may  be  got  together  for 
purposes  of  local  defence  or  aggressive  operations,  it  will  be 


"CHARGES  OF  ABOLITIONISM."  239 

very  difficult  to  move  these  masses  like  regular  armies.  There 
is  an  utter  want  of  field-trains,  equipage,  and  commissariat, 
which  cannot  be  made  good  in  a  day,  a  week,  or  a  month. 
The  absence  of  cavalry,  and  the  utter  deficiency  of  artillery, 
may  prevent  eithei  side  obtaining  any  decisive  result  in  one 
engagement ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  large  losses  will  be 
incurred  whenever  these  masses  of  men  are  fairly  opposed  to 
each  other  in  the  open  field." 

May  27th.  —  I  visited  several  of  the  local  companies,  their 
drill-grounds  and  parades ;  but  few  of  the  men  were  present, 
as  nearly  all  are  under  orders  to  proceed  to  the  camp  at  Tan- 
gipao  or  to  march  to  Richmond.  Privates  and  officers  are 
busy  in  the  sweltering  streets  purchasing  necessaries  for  their 
journey.  As  one  looks  at  the  resolute,  quick,  angry  faces 
around  him,  and  hears  but  the  single  theme,  he  must  feel  the 
South  will  never  yield  to  the  North,  unless  as  a  nation  which 
is  beaten  beneath  the  feet  of  a  victorious  enemy. 

In  every  State  there  is  only  one  voice  audible.  Hereafter, 
indeed,  state  jealousies  may  work  their  own  way  ;  but  if 
words  means  anything,  all  the  Southern  people  are  determined 
to  resist  Mr.  Lincoln's  invasion  as  long  as  they  have  a  man 
or  a  dollar.  Still,  there  are  certain  hard  facts  which  militate 
against  the  truth  of  their  own  assertions,  "  that  they  are  united 
to  a  man,  and  prepared  to  fight  to  a  man."  Only  15,000  are 
under  arms  out  of  the  50,000  men  in  the  State  of  Louisiana 
liable  to  military  service. 

"  Charges  of  abolitionism  "  appear  in  the  reports  of  police 
cases  in  the  papers  every  morning  ;  and  persons  found  guilty, 
not  of  expressing  opinions  against  slavery,  but  of  stating  their 
belief  that  the  Northerners  will  be  successful,  are  sent  to 
prison  for  six  months.  The  accused  are  generally  foreigners, 
or  belong  to  the  lower  orders,  who  have  got  no  interest  in  the 
support  of  slavery.  The  moral  suasion  of  the  lasso,  of  tar 
ring  and  feathering,  head-shaving,  ducking,  and  horseponds, 
deportation  on  rails,  and  similar  ethical  processes  are  highly 
in  favor.  As  yet  the  North  have  not  arrived  at  such  an  ele 
vated  view  of  the  necessities  of  their  position. 

The  New  Orleans  papers  are  facetious  over  their  new  mode 
of  securing  unanimity,  and  highly  laud  what  they  call  "  the 
course  of  instruction  in  the  humane  institution  for  the  amelio 
ration  of  the  condition  of  Northern  barbarians  and  abolition 
fanatics,  presided  over  by  Professor  Henry  Mitchell,"  who,  in 
other  words,  is  the  jailer  of  the  work-house  reformatory. 


240  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

I  dined  at  the  Lake  with  Mr.  Mure,  General  Lewis,  Ma 
jor  Ranney,  Mr.  Duncan  Kenner,  a  Mississippi  planter,  Mr. 
Claiborne,  &c.,  and  visited  the  club  in  the  evening.  Every 
night  since  I  have  been  in  New  Orleans  there  have  been  one 
or  two  fires  ;  to-night  there  were  three  —  one  a  tremendous 
conflagration.  When  I  inquired  to  what  they  were  attributa 
ble,  a  gentleman  who  sat  near  me,  bent  over,  and  looking  me 
straight  in  the  face,  said,  in  a  low  voice,  "  The  slaves."  The 
flues,  perhaps,  and  the  system  of  stoves,  may  also  bear  some 
of  the  blame.  There  is  great  enthusiasm  among  the  town's- 
people  in  consequence  of  the  Washington  artillery,  a  crack 
corps,  furnished  by  the  first  people  in  New  Orleans,  being  or 
dered  off  for  Virginia. 

May  28th.  —  On  dropping  in  at  the  Consulate  to-day,  I 
found  the  skippers  of  several  English  vessels  who  are  anxious 
to  clear  out,  lest  they  be  detained  by  the  Federal  cruisers. 
The  United  States  steam  frigates  Brooklyn  and  Niagara  have 
been  for  some  days  past  blockading  Pass  a  1'outre.  One 
citizen  made  a  remarkable  proposition  to  Mr.  Mure.  He 
came  in  to  borrow  an  ensign  of  the  Royal  Yacht  Squadron  for 
the  purpose,  he  said,  of  hoisting  it  on  board  his  yacht,  and 
running  down  to  have  a  look  at  the  Yankee  ships.  Mr.  Mure 
had  no  flag  to  lend ;  whereupon  he  asked  for  a  description 
by  which  he  could  get  one  made.  On  being  applied  to,  I  asked 
"  whether  the  gentleman  was  a  member  of  the  Squadron  ? " 
"  Oh,  no,"  said  he,  "  but  my  yacht  was  built  in  England,  and  I 
wrote  over  some  time  ago  to  say  I  would  join  the  squadron." 
I  ventured  to  tell  him  that  it  by  no  means  followed  he  was  a 
member,  and  that  if  he  went  out  with  the  flag  and  could  not 
show  by  his  papers  he  had  a  right  to  carry  it,  the  yacht  would 
be  seized.  However,  he  was  quite  satisfied  that  he  had  an 
English  yacht,  and  a  right  to  hoist  an  English  flag,  and  went  off 
to  an  outfitter's  to  order  a  fac-simile  of  the  squadron  ensign, 
and  subsequently  cruised  among  the  blockading  vessels. 

We  hear  Mr.  Ewell  was  attacked  by  an  Union  mob  in 
Tennessee,  his  luggage  was  broken  open  and  plundered,  and 
he  narrowly  escaped  personal  injury.  Per  contra,  "  charges 
of  abolitionism,"  continue  to  multiply  here,  and  are  almost  as 
numerous  as  the  coroner's  inquests,  not  to  speak  of  the 
difficulties  which  sometimes  attain  the  magnitude  of  murder. 

I  dined  with  a  large  party  at  the  Lake,  who  had  invited  me 
as  their  guest,  among  whom  were  Mr.  Slidell,  Governor  Hebert, 
Mr.  Hunt,  Mr.  Norton,  Mr.  Fellows,  and  others.  I  observed 


A  NEW  ORLEANS   OFFICIAL.  241 

in  New  York  that  every  man  had  his  own  solution  of  the  cause 
of  the  present  difficulty,  and  contradicted  plumply  his  neighbor 
the  moment  he  attempted  to  propound  his  own  theory.  Here 
I  found  every  one  agreed  as  to  the  righteousness  of  the  quar 
rel,  but  all  differed  as  to  the  best  mode  of  action  for  the  South 
to  pursue.  Nor  was  there  any  approach  to  unanimity  as  the 
evening  waxed  older.  Incidentally  we  had  wild  tales  of 
Southern  life,  some  good  songs  curiously  intermingled  with 
political  discussions,  and  what  the  Northerners  call  hyphileutin 
talk. 

When  I  was  in  the  Consulate  to-day,  a  tall  and  well-dressed, 
but  not  very  prepossessing-looking  man,  entered  to  speak  to 
Mr.  Mure  on  business,  and  was  introduced  to  me  at  his  own 
request.  His  name  was  mentioned  incidentally  to-night,  and 
I  heard  a  passage  in  his  life  not  of  an  agreeable  character,  to 
say  the  least  of  it.  A  good  many  years  ago  there  was  a  ball 
at  New  Orleans,  at  which  this  gentleman  was  present ;  he  paid 
particular  attention  to  a  lady,  who,  however,  preferred  the 
society  of  one  of  the  company,  and  in  the  course  of  the  even 
ing  an  altercation  occurred  respecting  an  engagement  to 
dance,  in  which  violent  language  was  exchanged,  and  a  push 
or  blow  given  by  the  favored  partner  to  his  rival,  who  left 
the  room,  and,  as  it  is  stated,  proceeded  to  a  cutler's  shop, 
where,  he  procured  a  powerful  dagger-knife.  Armed  with 
this,  he  returned,  and  sent  in  a  message  to  the  gentleman 
with  whom  he  had  quarrelled.  Suspecting  nothing,  the  latter 
came  into  the  antechamber,  the  assassin  rushed  upon  him, 
stabbed  him  to  the  heart,  and  left  him  weltering  in  his  blood. 
Another  version  of  the  story  was,  that  he  waited  for  his  vic 
tim  till  he  came  into  the  cloak-room,  and  struck  him  as  he 
was  in  the  act  of  putting  on  his  overcoat.  After  a  long  de 
lay,  the  criminal  was  tried.  The  defence  put  forward  on  his 
behalf  was  that  he  had  seized  a  knife  in  the  heat  of  the  mo 
ment  when  the  quarrel  took  place,  and  had  slain  his  adversary 
in  a  moment  of  passion  ;  but  evidence,  as  I  understand,  went 
strongly  to  prove  that  a  considerable  interval  elapsed  between 
the  time  of  the  dispute  and  the  commission  of  the  murder. 
The  prisoner  had  the  assistance  of  able  and  ingenious  coun 
sel;  he  was  acquitted.  His  acquittal  was  mainly  due  to  the 
judicious  disposition  of  a  large  sum  of  money  ;  each  juroi; 
when  he  retired  to  dinner  previous  to  consulting  over  the  ver 
diet,  was  enabled  to  find  the  sum  of  1000  dollars  under  his 
plate ;  nor  was  it  clear  that  the  judge  and  sheriff'  had  not  par- 
11 


242  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

ticipated  in  the  bounty  ;  in  fact,  I  heard  a  dispute  as  to  the 
exact  amount  which  it  is  supposed  the  murderer  had  to  pay. 
He  now  occupies,  under  the  Confederate  Government,  the 
post  at  New  Orleans  which  he  lately  held  as  representative 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

After  dinner  I  went  in  company  of  some  of  my  hosts  to 
the  Boston  Club,  which  has,  I  need  not  say,  no  connection 
with  the  city  of  that  name.  More  fires,  the  tocsin  sounding, 
and  so  to  bed. 

May  29th. —  Dined  in  the  evening  with  M.  Aristide  Milten- 
berger,  where  I  met  His  Excellency  Mr.  Moore,  the  Gov 
ernor  of  Louisiana,  his  military  secretary,  and  a  small  party. 

It  is  a  strange  country,  indeed ;  one  of  the  evils  which 
afflicts  the  Louisianians,  they  say,  is  the  preponderance  and 
influence  of  South  Carolinian  Jews,  and  Jews  generally,  such 
as  Moise,  Mordecai,  Josephs,  and  Judah  Benjamin,  and  others. 
The  subtlety  and  keenness  of  the  Caucasian  intellect  give 
men  a  high  place  among  a  people  who  admire  ability  and 
dexterity,  and  are  at  the  same  time  reckless  of  means  and 
averse  to  labor.  The  Governor  is  supposed  to  be  somewhat 
under  the  influence  of  the  Hebrews,  but  he  is  a  man  quite 
competent  to  think  and  to  act  for  himself,  —  a  plain,  sincere 
ruler  of  a  Slave  State,  and  an  upholder  of  the  patriarchal  in 
stitute.  After  dinner  we  accompanied  Madam  Milten-berger 
(who  affords  in  her  own  person  a  very  complete  refutation  of 
the  dogma  that  American  women  furnish  no  examples  of  the 
charms  which  surround  their  English  sisters  in  the  transit 
from  the  prime  of  life  towards  middle  age),  in  a  drive  along 
the  shell  road  to  the  lake  and  canal ;  the  most  remarkable 
object  being  a  long  wall  lined  with  a  glorious  growth  of  orange- 
trees  :  clouds  of  mosquitoes  effectually  interfered  with  an  en 
joyment  of  the  drive. 

May  30th.  —  Wrote  in  the  heat  of  the  day,  enlivened  by 
.  iny  neighbor,  a  wonderful  mocking-bird,  whose  songs  and 
imitations  would  make  his  fortune  in  any  society  capable  of 
appreciating  native-born  genius.  His  restlessness,  courage, 
activity,  and  talent,  ought  not  to  be  confined  to  Mr.  Mure's 
cage,  but  he  seems  contented  and  happy.  I  dined  with  Ma 
dame  and  M.  Milten-berger,  and  drove  out  with  them  to  visit 
the  scene  of  our  defeat  in  1815,  which  lies  at  the  distance  of 
some  miles  down  the  river. 

A  dilapidated  farm-house  surrounded  by  trees  and  negro 
huts,  marks  the  spot  where  Pakenham  was  buried,  but  his 


THE  REPULSE  AT  NEW  ORLEANS.        243 

body  was  subsequently  exhumed  and  sent  home  to  England. 
Close  to  the  point  of  the  canal  which  constitutes  a  portion  of 
the  American  defences,  a  negro  guide  came  forth  to  conduct 
us  round  the  place,  but  he  knew  as  little  as  most  guides  of  the 
incidents  of  the  fight.  The  most  remarkable  testimony  to  the 
severity  of  the  fire  to  which  the  British  were  exposed,  is 
afforded  by  the  trees  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  tomb.  In 
one  live-oak  there  are  no  less  than  eight  round  shot  embedded  ; 
others  contain  two  or  three,  and  many  are  lopped,  rent,  and 
scarred  by  the  flight  of  cannon-ball.  The  American  lines 
extended  nearly  three  miles,  arid -were  covered  in  the  front  by 
swamps,  marshes,  and  water  cuts,  their  batteries  and  the  ves 
sels  in  the  river  enfiladed  the  British  as  they  advanced  to  the 
attack. 

Among  the  prominent  defenders  of  the  cotton  bales  was  a 
notorious  pirate  and  murderer  named  Lafitte,  who  with  his 
band  was  released  from  prison  on  condition  that  he  enlisted  in 
the  defence,  and  did  substantial  service  to  his  friends  and 
deliverers. 

Without  knowing  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  it  would 
be  rash  now  to  condemn  the  officers  who  directed  the  assault ; 
but  so  far  as  one  could  judge  from  the  present  condition  of 
the  ground,  the  position  must  have  been  very  formidable,  and 
should  not  have  been  assaulted  till  the  enfilading  fire  was  sub 
dued,  and  a  very  heavy  covering  fire  directed  to  silence  the 
guns  in  front.  The  Americans  are  naturally  very  proud  of 
their  victory,  which  was  gained  at  a  most  trifling  loss  to  them 
selves,  which  they  erroneously  conceive  to  be  a  proof  of  their 
gallantry  in  resisting  the  assault.  It  is  one  of  the  events 
which  have  created  a  fixed  idea  in  their  minds  that  they  are 
able  to  "  whip  the  world." 

On  returning  from  my  visit  I  went  to  the  club,  where  I  had 
a  long  conversation  with  Dr.  Rushton,  who  is  strongly  con 
vinced  of  the  impossibility  of  carrying  on  government,  or  con 
ducting  municipal  affairs,  until  universal  suffrage  is  put  down. 
He  gave  many  instances  of  the  terrorism,  violence,  and  assas 
sinations  which  prevail  during  election  times  in  New  Orleans. 
M.  Milten-berger,  on  the  contrary,  thinks  matters  are  very 
well  as  they  are,  and  declares  all  these  stories  are  fanciful. 
Incendiarism  rife  again.  All  the  club  windows  crowded  with 
men  looking  at  a  tremendous  fire,  which  burned  down  three  or 
four  stores  and  houses. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Carrying  arms  —  New  Orleans  jail  —  Desperate  characters  —  Execu 
tions  —  Female  maniacs  and  prisoners  —  The  river  and  levee  — 
Climate  of  New  Orleans — Population — General  distress  —  Pres 
sure  of  the  blockade  —  Money  —  Philosophy  of  abstract  rights  — 
The  doctrine  of  state  rights  —  Theoretical  "defect  in  the  constitu 
tion. 

May  3lst.  —  I  went  with  Mr.  Mure  to  visit  the  jail.  We 
met  the  sheriff,  according  to  appointment,  at  the  police  court. 
Something  like  a  sheriff — a  great,  big,  burly,  six-foot  man, 
with  revolvers  stuck  in  his  belt,  and  strength  and  arms  quite 
sufficient  to  enable  him  to  execute  his  office  in  its  highest 
degree.  Speaking  of  the  numerous  crimes  committed  in  New 
Orleans,  he  declared  it  was  a  perfect  hell  upon  earth,  and  that 
nothing  would  ever  put  an  end  to  murders,  manslaughters,  and 
deadly  assaults,  till  it  was  made  penal  to  carry  arms;  but  by 
law  every  American  citizen  may  walk  with  an  armory  round 
his  waist,  if  he  likes.  Bar-rooms,  cock-tails,  mint-juleps, 
gambling-houses,  political  discussions,  and  imperfect  civiliza 
tion  do  the  rest. 

The  jail  is  a  square  whitewashed  building,  with  cracked 
walls  and  barred  windows.  In  front  of  the  open  door  were 
seated  four  men  on  chairs,  with  their  legs  cocked  against  the 
wall,  smoking  and  reading  newspapers.  "  Well,  what  do  you 
want?"  said  one  of  them,  without  rising.  "To  visit  the 
prison."  "  Have  you  got  friends  inside,  or  do  you  carry  an 
order  ? "  The  necessary  document  from  our  friend  the 
sheriff,  was  produced.  We  entered  through  the  doorway, 
into  a  small  hall,  at  the  end  of  which  was  an  iron  grating  and 
door.  A  slightly-built  young  man,  who  was  lolling  in  his 
shirt-sleeves  on  a  chair,  rose  and  examined  the  order,  and, 
taking  down  a  bunch  of  keys  from  a  hook,  and  introducing 
himself  to  us  as  one  of  the  warders,  opened  the  iron  door, 
and  preceded  us  through  a  small  passage  into  a  square  court 
yard,  formed  on  one  side  by  a  high  wall,  and  on  the  othei 


JAIL  AT  NEW  ORLEANS.  245 

three  by  windowed  walls  and  cells,  with  doors  opening  on  the 
court.  It  was  filled  with  a  crowd  of  men  and  boys  ;  some 
walking  up  and  down,  others  sitting,  and  groups  on  the  pave 
ment  ;  some  moodily  apart,  smoking  or  chewing ;  one  or 
two  cleaning  their  clothes,  or  washing  at  a  small  tank.  We 
walked  into  the  midst  of  them,  and  the  warder,  smoking  his 
cigar  and  looking  coolly  about  him,  pointed  out  the  most 
desperate  criminals. 

This  crowded  and  most  noisome  place  was  filled  with  felons 
of  every  description,  as  well  as  with  poor  wretches  merely 
guilty  of  larceny.  Hardened  murderers,  thieves,  and  assas 
sins,  were  here  associated  with  boys  in  their  teens,  who  were 
undergoing  imprisonment  for  some  trifling  robbery.  It  was 
not  pleasant  to  rub  elbows  with  miscreants  who  lounged  past, 
almost  smiling  defiance,  whilst  the  slim  warder,  in  his  straw 
hat,  shirt-sleeves,  and  drawers,  told  you  how  such  a  fellow 
had  murdered  his  mother,  how  another  had  killed  a  police 
man,  or  a  third  had  destroyed  no  less  than  three  persons  in  a 
few  moments.  Here  were  seventy  murderers,  pirates,  bur 
glars,  violaters,  and  thieves,  circulating  among  men  who  had 
been  proved  guilty  of  no  offence,  but  were  merely  waiting  for 
their  trial. 

A  veranda  ran  along  one  side  of  the  wall,  above  a  row  of 
small  cells,  containing  truckle  beds  for  the  inmates.  "  That's 
a  desperate  chap,  I  can  tell  you,"  said  the  warder,  pointing  to 
a  man  who,  naked  to  his  shirt,  was  sitting  on  the  floor,  with 
heavy  irons  on  his  legs,  which  they  chafed  notwithstanding  the 
bloody  rags  around  them,  engaged  in  playing  cards  with  a  fel 
low"  prisoner,  and  smoking  with  an  air  of  supreme  contentment. 
The  prisoner  turned  at  the  words,  and  gave  a  kind  of  grunt 
and  chuckle,  and  then  played  his  next  card.  "  That,"  said  the 
warder,  in  the  proud  tone  of  a  menagerie  keeper  exhibiting 
his  fiercest  wild  beast,  "  is  a  real  desperate  character ;  his 
name  is  Gordon  ;  I  guess  he  comes  from  your  country  ;  he 
made  a  most  miraculous  attempt  to  escape,  and  all  but  suc 
ceeded  ;  and  you  would  never  believe  me  if  I  told  you  that 
he  hooked  on  to  that  little  spout,  climbed  up  the  angle  of  that 
wall  there,  and  managed  to  get  across  to  the  ledge  of  that  win 
dow  over  the  outside  wall  before  he  was  discovered."  And 
indeed  it  did  require  the  corroborative  twinkle  in  the  fellow's 
eye,  as  he  heard  of  his  own  exploit,  to  make  me  believe 
that  the  feat  thus  indicated  could  be  performed  by  mortal 
man. 


246  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

"  There's  where  we  hang  them,"  continued  he,  pointing  to  a 
small  black  door,  let  into  the  wall,  about  eighteen  feet  from  the 
ground,  with  some  iron  hooks  above  it.  "  They  walk  out  on 
the  door,  which  is  shot  on  a  bolt,  and  when  the  rope  is  round 
their  necks  from  the  hook,  the  door's  let  flop,  and  they  swing 
over  the  court-yard."  The  prisoners  are  shut  up  in  their  cells 
during  the  execution,  but  they  can  see  wrhat  is  passing,  at  least 
those  who  get  good  places  at  the  windows.  "  Some  of  them," 
added  the  warder,  "  do  die  very  brave  indeed.  Some  of  them 
abuse  as  you  never  heard.  But  most  of  them  don't  seem  to 
like  it." 

Passing  from  the  yard,  we  proceeded  up-stairs  to  the  first 
floor,  where  were  the  debtors'  rooms.  These  were  tolerably 
comfortable,  in  comparison  to  the  wretched  cells  we  had  seen ; 
but  the  poorer  debtors  were  crowded  together,  three  or  four  in 
a  room.  As  far  as  I  could  ascertain,  there  is  no  insolvency 
law,  but  the  debtor  is  free,  after  ninety  days'  imprisonment,  if 
his  board  and  lodging  be  paid  for.  "  And  what  if  they  are 
not  ?  "  "  Oh,  well,  in  that  case  we  keep  them  till  all  is  paid, 
adding  of  course  for  every  day  they  are  kept." 

In  one  of  these  rooms,  sitting  on  his  bed,  looking  wicked 
and  gloomy,  and  with  a  glare  like  that  of  a  wild  beast  in  his 
eyes,  was  a  Doctor  Withers,  who,  a  few  days  ago,  murdered 
his  son-in-law  and  his  wife,  in  a  house  close  to  Mr.  Mure's. 
He  was  able  to  pay  for  this  privilege,  and  "  as  he  is  a  respect 
able  man,"  said  the  warder,  "  perhaps  he  may  escape  the 
worst." 

Turning  from  this  department  into  another  gallery,  the 
warder  went  to  an  iron  door,  above  which  was  painted  a 
death's  head  and  cross-bones ;  beneath  were  the  words  "  con 
demned  cell." 

He  opened  the  door,  which  led  to  a  short  narrow  covered 
gallery,  one  side  of  which  looked  into  a  court-yard,  admitting 
light  into  two  small  chambers,  in  which  were  pallets  of  straw 
covered  with  clean  counterpanes. 

Six  men  were  walking  up  and  down  in  the  passage.  In  the 
first  room  there  was  a  table,  on  which  were  placed  missals, 
neatly  bound,  and  very  clean  religious  books,  a  crucifix,  and 
Agnus  Dei.  The  whitewashed  wall  of  this  chamber  was  cov 
ered  with  most  curious  drawings  in  charcoal  or  black  chalk, 
divided  into  compartments,  and  representing  scenes  in  the  life 
of  the  unhappy  artist,  a  Frenchman,  executed  some  years  ago 
for  murdering  his  mistress,  depicting  his  temptations,  —  his 


FEMALE  MANIACS.  247 

gradual  fall  from  innocence,  —  his  society  with  abandoned 
men  and  women,  —  intermingled  with  Scriptural  subjects, 
Christ  walking  on  the  waters,  ancl  holding  out  his  hand  to  the 
culprit,  —  the  murderer's  corpse  in  the  grave,  —  angels  visit 
ing  and  lamenting  over  it ;  —  finally,  the  resurrection,  in  which 
he  is  seen  ascending  to  heaven  ! 

My  attention  was  attracted  from  this  extraordinary  room  to 
an  open  gallery  at  the  other  side  of  the  court-yard,  in  which 
were  a  number  of  women  with  dishevelled  hair  and  torn 
clothes,  some  walking  up  and  down  restlessly,  others  scream 
ing  loudly,  while  some  with  indecent  gestures  were  yelling  to 
the  wretched  men  opposite  to  them,  as  they  were  engaged  in 
their  miserable  promenade. 

Shame  and  horror  to  a  Christian  land !  These  women 
were  maniacs !  They  are  kept  here  until  there  is  room  for 
them  at  the  State  Lunatic  Asylum.  Night  and  day  their 
terrible  cries  and  ravings  echo  through  the  dreary,  waking 
hours  and  the  fitful  slumbers  of  the  wretched  men  so  soon 
to  die. 

Two  of  those  who  walked  in  that  gallery  are  to  die  to 
morrow. 

What  a  mockery  —  the  crucifix  !  —  the  Agnus  Dei!  —  the 
holy  books !  I  turned  with  sickness  and  loathing  from  the 
dreadful  place.  "  But,"  said  the  keeper,  apologetically, 

"  there's  not  one  of  them  believes  he'll  be  hanged." 

****** 

We  next  visited  the  women's  gallery,  where  female  crimi 
nals  of  all  classes  are  huddled  together  indiscriminately.  On 
opening  the  door,  the  stench  from  the  open  veranda,  in  which 
the  prisoners  were  sitting,  was  so  vile  that  I  could  not  proceed 
further ;  but  I  saw  enough  to  convince  me  that  the  poor,  err 
ing  woman  who  was  put  in  there  for  some  trifling  offence,  and 
placed  in  contact  with  the  beings  who  were  uttering  such  lan 
guage  as  we  heard,  might  indeed  leave  hope  behind  her. 

The  prisoners  have  no  beds  to  sleep  upon,  not  even  a  blanket, 
and  are  thrust  in  to  lie  as  they  please,  five  in  each  small  cell. 
It  may  be  imagined  what  the  tropical  heat  produces  under 
such  conditions  as  these ;  but  as  the  surgeon  was  out,  I  could 
obtain  no  information  respecting  the  rates  of  sickness  or 
mortality. 

I  next  proceeded  to  a  yard  somewhat  smaller  than  that  ap 
propriated  to  serious  offenders,  in  which  were  confined  pris 
oners  condemned  for  short  sentences,  for  such  offences  as 


248  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

drunkenness,  assault,  and  the  like.  Among  the  prisoners  were 
some  English  sailors,  confined  for  assaults  on  their  officers,  or 
breach  of  articles;  all  of  whom  had  complaints  to  make  to  the 
Consul,  as  to  arbitrary  arrests  and  unfounded  charges.  Mr. 
Mure  told  me  that  when  the  port  is  full  he  is  constantly  en 
gaged  inquiring  into  such  cases  ;  and  I  am  sorry  to  learn  that 
the  men  of  our  commercial  marine  occasion  a  good  deal  of 
trouble  to  the  authorities. 

I  left  the  prison  in  no  very  charitable  mood  towards  the 
people  who  sanctioned  such  a  disgraceful  institution,  and  pro 
ceeded  to  complete  my  tour  of  the  city. 

The  "  Levee,"  which  is  an  enormous  embankment  to  pre 
vent  the  inundation  of  the  river,  is  now  nearly  deserted  ex 
cept  by  the  river  steamers,  and  those  which  have  been  unable 
to  run  the  blockade.  As  New  Orleans  is  on  an  average  three 
feet  below  the  level  of  the  river  at  high  water,  this  work  re 
quires  constant  supervision ;  it  is  not  less  than  fifteen  feet 
broad,  and  rises  five  or  six  feet  above  the  level  of  the  adja 
cent  street,  and  it  is  continued  in  an  almost  unbroken  line  for 
several  hundreds  of  miles  up  the  course  of  the  Mississippi. 
When  the  bank  gives  way,  or  a  "  crevasse,"  as  it  is  techni 
cally  called,  occurs,  the  damage  done  to  the  plantations  has 
sometimes  to  be  calculated  by  millions  of  dollars ;  when  the 
river  is  very  low  there  is  a  new  form  of  danger,  in  what  is 
called  the  "  caving  in  "  of  the  bank,  which,  left  without  the 
support  of  the  water  pressure,  slides  into  the  bed  of  the  giant 
river. 

New  Orleans  is  called  the  "  Crescent  City  "  in  consequence 
of  its  being  built  on  a  curve  of  the  river,  which  is  here  about 
the  breadth  of  the  Thames  at  Gravesend,  and  of  great  depth. 
Enormous  cotton  presses  are  erected  near  the  banks,  where 

^the  bales  are  compressed  by  machinery  before  stowage  on  ship- 
jooard.  at  a  heavy  cost  to  the  planter. 

If  The  custom-house,  the  city-hall,  and  the  United  States  mint, 
are  fine  buildings,  of  rather  pretentious  architecture  ;  the  for 
mer  is  the  largest  building  in  the  States,  next  to  the  capital. 
I  was  informed  that  on  the  levee,  now  almost  deserted,  there 
is  during  the  cotton  and  sugar  season  a  scene  of  activity,  life, 
and  noise,  the  like  of  which  is  not  in  the  world.  Even  Can 
ton  does  not  show  so  many  boats  on  the  river,  not  to  speak  of 
steamers,  tugs,  flat-boats,  and  the  like ;  and  it  may  be  easily 
imagined  that  such  is  the  case,  when  we  know  that  the  value 
of  the  cotton  sent  in  the  year  from  this  port  alone  exceeds 


MR  BIBB  AND   SELF-DEFENCE.  249 

twenty  millions  sterling,  and  that  the  other  exports  are  of  the 
value  of  at  least  fifteen  millions  sterling,  whilst  the  imports 
amount  to  nearly  four  millions. 

As  the  city  of  New  Orleans  is  nearly  1700  miles  south  of 
New  York,  it  is  not  surprising  that  it  rejoices  in  a  semi-trop 
ical  climate.  The  squares  are  surrounded  with  lemon-trees, 
orange-groves,  myrtle,  and  magnificent  magnolias.  Palmet- 
toes  and  peach-trees  are  found  in  all  the  gardens,  and  in  the 
neighborhood  are  enormous  cypresses,  hung  round  with  the 
everlasting  Spanish  moss. 

The  streets  of  the  extended  city  are  different  in  character 
from  the  narrow  chaussees  of  the  old  town,  and  the  general 
rectangular  arrangement  common  in  the  United  States,  Russia, 
and  British  Indian  cantonments  is  followed  as  much  as  possi 
ble.  The  markets  are  excellent,  each  municipality,  or  grand 
division,  being  provided  with  its  own.  They  swarm  with 
specimens  of  the  composite  races  which  inhabit  the  city,  from 
the  thorough -bred,  woolly-headed  negro,  who  is  suspiciously 
like  a  native-born  African,  to  the  Creole  who  boasts  that  every 
drop  of  blood  in  his  veins  is  purely  French. 

I  was  struck  by  the  absence  of  any  whites  of  the  laboring 
classes,  and  when  I  inquired  what  had  become  of  the  men 
who  work  on  the  levee  and  at  the  cotton  presses  in  competi 
tion  with  the  negroes,  I  was  told  they  had  been  enlisted  for 
the  war. 

I  forgot  to  mention  that  among  the  criminals  in  the  prison 
there  was  one  Mr.  Bibb,  a  respectable  citizen,  who  had  a  little 
affair  of  his  own  on  Sunday  morning. 

Mr.  Bibb  was  coming  from  market,  and  had  secured  an 
early  copy  of  a  morning  paper.  Three  citizens,  anxious  for 
news,  or,  as  Bibb  avows,  for  his  watch  and  purse,  came  up 
and  insisted  that  he  should  read  the  paper  for  them.  Bibb  de 
clined,  whereupon  the  three  citizens,  in  the  full  exercise  of  their 
rights  as  a  majority,  proceeded  to  coerce  him  ;  but  Bibb  had  a 
casual  revolver  in  his  pocket,  and  in  a  moment  he  shot  one  of 
his  literary  assailants  dead,  and  wounded  the  two  others 
severely,  if  not  mortally.  The  paper  which  narrates  the  cir 
cumstances,  in  stating  that  the  successful  combatant  had  been 
committed  to  prison,  adds,  "  great  sympathy  is  felt  for  Mr. 
Bibb."  If  the  Southern  minority  is  equally  successful  in  its 
resistance  to  force  majeure  as  this  eminent  citizen,  the  fate  of 
the  Confederacy  cannot  long  be  doubtful. 

June  1st.  The  respectable  people  of  the  city  are  menaced 
11* 


250  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

with  two  internal  evils  in  consequence  of  the  destitution 
caused  by  the  stoppage  of  trade  with  the  North  and  with 
Europe.  The  municipal  authorities,  for  want  of  funds, 
threaten  to  close  the  city  schools,  and  to  disband  the  police  ; 
at  the  same  time  employers  refuse  to  pay  their  workmen  on 
the  ground  of  inability.  The  British  Consulate  was  thronged 
to-day  by  Irish,  English,  and  Scotch,  entreating  to  be  sent 
North  or  to  Europe.  The  stories  told  by  some  of  these  poor 
fellows  were  most  pitiable,  and  were  vouched  for  by  facts  and 
papers  ;  but  Mr.  Mure  has  no  funds  at  his  disposal  to  enable 
him  to  comply  with  their  prayers.  Nothing  remains  for  them 
but  to  enlist.  For  the  third  or  fourth  time  I  heard  cases  of 
British  subjects  being  forcibly  carried  off  to  fill  the  ranks  of 
yo-called  volunteer  companies  and  regiments.  In  some  instan 
ces  they  have  been  knocked  down,  bound,  and  confined  in  bar 
racks,  till  in  despair  they  consented  to  serve.  Those  who 
have  friends  aware  of  their  condition  were  relieved  by  the  in 
terference  of  the  Consul ;  but  there  are  many,  no  doubt, 
thus  coerced  and  placed  in  involuntary  servitude  without  his 
knowledge.  Mr.  Mure  has  acted  with  energy,  judgment,  and 
success  on  these  occasions  ;  but  I  much  wish  he  could  have, 
from  national  sources,  assisted  the  many  distressed  English 
subjects  who  thronged  his  office. 

The  great  commercial  community  of  New  Orleans,  which 
now  feels  the  pressure  of  the  blockade,  depends  on  the  inter 
ference  of  the  European  Powers  next  October.  They  have 
among  them  men  who  refuse  to  pay  their  debts  to  Northern 
houses,  but  they  deny  that  they  intend  to  repudiate,  and 
promise  to  pay  all  who  are  not  Black  Republicans  when  the 
war  is  over.  Repudiation  is  a  word  out  of  favor,  as  they  feel 
the  character  of  the  Southern  States  and  of  Mr.  Jefferson 
Davis  himself  has  been  much  injured  in  Europe  by  the  breach 
of  honesty  and  honor  of  which  they  have  been  guilty  ;  but  I 
am  assured  on  all  sides  that  every  State  will  eventually  re 
deem  all  its  obligations.  Meantime,  money  here  is  fast  van 
ishing.  Bills  on  New  York  are  worth  nothing,  and  bills  on 
England  are  at  18  per  cent,  discount  from  the  par  value  of 
gold  ;  but  the  people  of  this  city  will  endure  all  this  and  much 
more  to  escape  from  the  hated  rule  of  the  Yankees. 

Through  the  present  gloom  come  the  rays  of  a  glorious  fu 
ture,  which  shall  see  a  grand  slave  confederacy  enclosing  the 
Gulf  in  its  arms,  and  swelling  to  the  shores  of  the  Potomac 
and  Chesapeake,  with  the  entire  control  of  the  Mississippi  and 


SLAVERY  AND  COTTON.  251 

a  monopoly  of  the  great  staples  on  which  so  much  of  the  man 
ufactures  and  commerce  of  England  and  France  depend. 
They  believe  themselves,  in  fact,  to  be  masters  of  the  destiny 
of  the  world.  Cotton  is  king  —  not  alone  king  but  czar;  and 
coupled  with  the  gratification  and  profit  to  be  derived  from 
this  mighty  agency,  they  look  forward  writh  intense  satisfac 
tion  to  the  complete  humiliation  of  their  hated  enemies  in  the 
New  England  States,  to  the  destruction  of  their  usurious  rival 
New  York,  and  to  the  impoverishment  and  ruin  of  the  States 
which  have  excited  their  enmity  by  personal  liberty  bills,  and 
have  outraged  and  insulted  them  by  harboring  abolitionists 
and  an  anti-slavery  press. 

The  abolitionists  have  said,  "  We  will  never  rest  till  every 
slave  is  free  in  the  United  States."  Men  of  larger  views 
than  those  have  declared,  "  They  will  never  rest  from  agita 
tion  until  a  man  may  as  freely  express  his  opinions,  be  they 
what  they  may,  on  slavery,  or  anything  else,  in  the  streets  of 
Charleston  or  of  New  Orleans  as  in  those  of  Boston  or 
New  York."  "  Our  rights  are  guaranteed  by  the  Constitu 
tion,"  exclaim  the  South.  "  The  Constitution,"  retorts  Wen 
dell  Phillips,  "  is  a  league  with  the  devil,  —  a  covenant  with 
hell." 

The  doctrine  of  State  Rights  has  been  consistently  advo 
cated  not  only  by  Southern  statesmen,  but  by  the  great  party 
who  have  ever  maintained  there  was  danger  to  liberty  in  the 
establishment  of  a  strong  central  Government ;  but  the  con 
tending  interests  and  opinions  on  both  sides  had  hitherto  been 
kept  from  open  collision  by  artful  compromises  and  by  ingen 
ious  contrivances,  which  ceased  with  the  election  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln. 

There  was  in  the  very  corner-stone  of  the  republican  edi 
fice  a  small  fissure,  which  has  been  widening  as  the  grand 
structure  increased  in  height  and  weight.  The  early  states 
men  and  authors  of  the  Republic  knew  of  its  existence,  but 
left  to  posterity  the  duty  of  dealing  with  it  and  guarding 
against  its  consequences.  Washington  himself  was  perfectly 
aware  of  the  danger ;  and  he  looked  forward  to  a  duration 
of  some  sixty  or  seventy  years  only  for  the  great  fabric  he 
contributed  to  erect.  He  was  satisfied  a  crisis  must  come, 
when  the  States  whom  in  his  farewell  address  he  warned 
against  rivalry  and  faction  would  be  unable  to  overcome  the 
animosities  excited  by  different  interests,  and  the  passions 
arising  out  of  adverse  institutions ;  and  now  that  the  separa- 


252  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

tion  has  come,  there  is  not,  in  the  Constitution,  or  out  of  it, 
power  to  cement  the  broken  fragments  together. 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  New  Orleans,  as  in  New  York,  the 
opinion  of  the  most  wealthy  and  intelligent  men  in  the  com 
munity,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  regards  universal  suffrage  as 
organized  confiscation,  legalized  violence  and  corruption,  a 
mortal  disease  in  the  body  politic.  The  other  night,  as  I  sat 
in  the  club-house,  I  heard  a  discussion  in  reference  to  the 
operations  of  the  Thugs  in  this  city,  a  band  of  native-born 
Americans,  who  at  election  times  were  wont  deliberately  to 
shoot  down  Irish  and  German  voters  occupying  positions  as 
leaders  of  their  mobs*  These  Thugs  were  only  suppressed 
by  an  armed  vigilance  committee,  of  which  a  physician  who 
sat  at  table  was  one  of  the  members. 

Having  made  some  purchases,  and  paid  all  my  visits,  I 
returned  to  prepare  for  my  voyage  up  the  Mississippi  and 
visits  to  several  planters  on  its  banks — my  first  being  to  Gov 
ernor  Roman. 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

Up  the  Mississippi  —  Free  negroes  and  English  policy  —  Monotony 
of  the  river  scenery  —  Visit  to  M.  Roman  —  Slave  quarters  —  A 
slave-dance  —  Slave-children  —  Negro  hospital  —  General  opin 
ion  —  Confidence  in  Jefferson  Davis. 

June  %d.  My  good  friend  the  Consul  was  up  early  to  see 
me  off;  and  we  drove  together  to  the  steamer  J.  L.  Gotten. 
The  people  were  going  to  mass  as  we  passed  through  the 
streets  ;  and  it  was  pitiable  to  see  the  children  dressed  out  as 
Zouaves,  with  tin  swords  and  all  sorts  of  pseudo-military 
tomfoolery ;  streets  crowded  with  military  companies  ;  bands 
playing  on  all  sides. 

Before  we  left  the  door  a  poor  black  sailor  came  up  to 
entreat  Mr.  Mure's  interference.  He  had  been  sent  by  Mr. 
Magee,  the  Consul  at  Mobile,  by  land  to  New  Orleans,  in  the 
hope  that  Mr.  Mure  would  be  able  to  procure  him  a  free 
passage  to  some  British  port.  He  had  served  in  the  Royal 
Navy,  and  had  received  a  wound  in  the  Russian  war.  The 
moment  he  arrived  in  New  Orleans  he  had  been  seized  by  the 
police.  On  his  stating  that  he  was  a  free-born  British  subject, 
the  authorities  ordered  him  to  be  taken  to  Mr.  Mure ;  he  could 
not  be  allowed  to  go  at  liberty  on  account  of  his  color ;  the 
laws  of  the  State  forbade  such  dangerous  experiments  on  the 
feelings  of  the  slave  population  ;  and  if  the  Consul  did  not 
provide  for  him,  he  would  be  arrested  and  kept  in  prison,  if 
no  worse  fate  befell  him.  He  was  suffering  from  the  effect 
of  his  wound,  and  was  evidently  in  ill  health.  Mr.  Mure 
gave  him  a  letter  to  the  Sailors'  Hospital,  and  some  relief  out 
of  his  own  pocket.  The  police  came  as  far  as  the  door  with 
him,  and  remained  outside  to  arrest  him  if  the  Consul  did  not 
afford  him  protection  and  provide  for  him,  so  that  he  should  not 
be  seen  at  large  in  the  streets  of  the  city.  The  other  day  a 
New  Orleans  privateer  captured  three  northern  brigs,  on  board 
which  were  ten  free  negroes.  The  captain  handed  them  over 
to  the  Recorder,  who  applied  to  the  Confederate  States  Mar- 


254  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

shal  to  take  charge  of  them.  The  Marshal  refused  to  receive 
them,  whereupon  the  Recorder,  as  a  magistrate  and  a  good 
citizen,  decided  on  keeping  them  in  jail,  as  it  would  be  a  bad 
and  dangerous  policy  to  let  them  loose  upon  the  community. 

I  cannot  help  feeling  that  the  position  taken  by  England  in 
reference  to  the  question  of  her  colored  subjects  is  humiliating 
and  degrading.  People  who  live  in  London  may  esteem  this 
question  a  light  matter ;  but  it  has  not  only  been  inconsistent 
with  the  national  honor ;  it  has  so  degraded  us  in  the  opinion 
of  Americans  themselves,  that  they  are  encouraged  to  indulge 
in  an  insolent  tone  and  in  violent  acts  towards  us,  which  will 
some  day  leave  Great  Britain  no  alternative  but  an  appeal  to 
arms.  Free  colored  persons  are  liable  to  seizure  by  the  police, 
and  to  imprisonment,  and  may  be  sold  into  servitude  under 
certain  circumstances. 

On  arriving  at  the  steamer,  I  found  a  considerable  party  of 
citizens  assembled  to  see  off  their  friends.  Governor  Roman's 
son  apologized  to  me  for  his  inability  to  accompany  me  up  the 
river,  as  he  was  going  to  the  drill  of  his  company  of  volun 
teers.  Several  other  gentlemen  were  in  uniform  ;  and  when 
we  had  passed  the  houses  of  the  city,  I  observed  companies 
and  troops  of  horse  exercising  on  both  sides  of  the  banks. 
On  board  were  Mr.  Burnside,  a  very  extensive  proprietor, 
and  Mr.  Forstall,  agent  to  Messrs.  Baring,  who  claims  descent 
from  an  Irish  family  near  Rochestown,  though  he  speaks  our 
vernacular  with  difficulty,  and  is  much  more  French  than 
British.  He  is  considered  one  of  the  ablest  financiers  and 
economists  in  the  United  States,  and  is  certainly  very  ingen 
ious,  and  well  crammed  with  facts  and  figures. 

The  aspect  of  New  Orleans  from  the  river  is  marred  by  the 
very  poor  houses  lining  the  quays  on  the  levee.  Wide  streets 
open  on  long  vistas  bordered  by  the  most  paltry  little  domi 
ciles  ;  and  the  great  conceptions  of  those  who  planned  them, 
notwithstanding  the  prosperity  of  the  city,  have  not  been 
realised. 

As  we  were  now  floating  nine  feet  higher  than  the  level  of 
the  streets,  we  could  look  down  upon  a  sea  of  flat  roofs,  and 
low  wooden  houses,  painted  white,  pierced  by  the  domes  and 
spires  of  churches  and  public  buildings.  Grass  was  growing 
in  many  of  these  streets.  At  the  other  side  of  the  river  there 
is  a  smaller  city  of  shingle-roofed  houses,  with  a  background 
of  low  timber. 

The  steamer  stopped  continually  at  various  points  along  the 


RIVER   AT   NEW   ORLEANS.  255 

levee,  discharging  commissariat  stores,  parcels,  and  passengers  ; 
and  after  a  time  glided  up  into  the  open  country,  which  spread 
beneath  us  for  several  miles  at  each  side  of  the  banks,  with  a 
continuous  background  of  forest.  All  this  part  of  the  river  is 
called  the  Coast,  and  the  country  adjacent  is  remarkable  for 
its  fertility.  The  sugar  plantations  are  bounded  by  lines 
drawn  at  right  angles  to  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  extending 
through  the  forest.  The  villas  of  the  proprietors  are  thickly 
planted  in  the  midst  of  the  green  fields,  with  the  usual  porti 
coes,  pillars,  verandas,  and  green  blinds  ;  and  in  the  vicinity 
of  each  are  rows  of  whitewashed  huts,  which  are  the  slave 
quarters.  These  fields,  level  as  a  billiard  table,  are  of  the 
brightest  green  with  crops  of  maize  and  sugar. 

But  few  persons  were  visible ;  not  a  boat  was  to  be  seen  ; 
and  in  the  course  of  sixty-two  miles  we  met  only  two  steamers. 
No  shelving  banks,  no  pebbly  shoals,  no  rocky  margins  mark 
the  course  or  diversify  the  outline  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
dead,  uniform  line  of  the  levee  compresses  it  at  each  side,  and 
the  turbid  waters  flow  without  let  in  a  current  of  uniform 
breadth  between  the  monotonous  banks.  The  gables  and 
summit  of  one  house  resemble  those  of  another  ;  and  but  for 
the  enormous  scale  of  river  and  banks,  and  the  black  faces  of 
the  few  negroes  visible,  a  passenger  might  think  he  was  on 
board  a  Dutch  "  treckshuyt."  In  fact,  the  Mississippi  is  a 
huge  trench-like  canal  draining  a  continent. 

At  half  past  three  P.  M.  the  steamer  ran  along-side  the 
levee  at  the  right  bank,  and  discharged  me  at  "  Cahabanooze," 
in  the  Indian  tongue,  or  "  The  ducks'  sleeping-place,"  together 
with  an  English  merchant  of  New  Orleans,  M.  La  Ville 
Beaufevre,  son-in-law  of  Governor  Roman,  and  his  wife.  The 
Governor  was  waiting  to  receive  us  in  the  levee,  and  led  the 
way  through  a  gate  in  the  paling  which  separated  his  ground 
from  the  roadside,  towards  the  house,  a  substantial,  square, 
two-storied  mansion,  with  a  veranda  all  round  it,  embosomed 
amid  venerable  trees,  and  surrounded  by  magnolias.  By  way 
of  explaining  the  proximity  of  his  house  to  the  river,  M. 
Roman  told  me  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  garden  in 
front  had  a  short  time  ago  been  carried  off  by  the  Mississippi ; 
nor  is  he  at  all  sure  the  house  itself  will  not  share  the  same 
fate  ;  I  hope  sincerely  it  may  not.  My  quarters  were  in  a 
detached  house,  complete  in  itself,  containing  four  bedrooms, 
library,  and  sitting-room,  close  to  the  mansion,  an-d  surrounded, 
like  it,  by  fine  trees. 


256  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

After  we  had  sat  for  some  time  in  the  shade  of  the  finest 
group,  M.  Roman,  or,  as  he  is  called,  the  Governor  —  once  a 
captain  always  a  captain  —  asked  me  whether  I  would  like  to 
visit  the  slave  quarters.  I  assented,  and  the  Governor  led  the 
way  to  a  high  paling  at  the  back  of  the  house,  inside  which  the 
scraping  of  fiddles  was  audible.  As  we  passed  the  back  of 
thWmansion  some  young  women  flitted  past  in  snow-white 
dresses,  crinolines,  pink  sashes,  and  gaudily  colored  handker 
chiefs  on  their  heads,  who  were,  the  Governor  told  me,  the 
domestic  servants  going  off  to  a  dance  at  the  sugar-house  ;  he 
lets  his  slaves  dance  every  Sunday.  The  American  planters 
who  are  not  Catholics,  although  they  do  not  make  the  slaves 
work  on  Sunday  except  there  is  something  to  do,  rarely  grant 
them  the  indulgence  of  a  dance,  but  a  few  permit  them  some 
hours  of  relaxation  on  each  Saturday  afternoon. 

We  entered,  by  a  wicket-gate,  a  square  enclosure,  lined  with 
negro  huts,  built  of  wood,  something  like  those  which  came 
from  Malta  to  the  Crimea  in  the  early  part  of  the  campaign. 
They  are  not  furnished  with  windows — .a  wooden  slide  or 
grating  admits  all  the  air  a  negro  desires.  There  is  a  par 
tition  dividing  the  hut  into  two  departments,  one  of  which  is 
used  as  the  sleeping-room,  and  contains  a  truckle  bedstead  and 
a  mattress  stuffed  with  cotton  wool,  or  the  hair-like  fibres  of 
dried  Spanish  moss.  The  wardrobes  of  the  inmates  hang  from 
nails  or  pegs  driven  into  the  wall.  The  other  room  is  furnish 
ed  with  a  dresser,  on  which  are  arranged  a  few  articles  of 
crockery  and  kitchen  utensils.  Sometimes  there  is  a  table  in 
addition  to  the  plain  wooden  chairs,  more  or  less  dilapidated, 
constituting  the  furniture  —  a  hearth,  in  connection  with  a 
brick  chimney  outside  the  cottage,  in  which,  hot  as  the  day 
may  be,  some  embers  are  sure  to  be  found  burning.  The 
ground  round  the  huts  was  covered  with  litter  and  dust,  heaps 
of  old  shoes,  fragments  of  clothing  and  feathers,  amidst  which 
pigs  and  poultry  were  recreating.  Curs  of  low  degree 
scampered  in  and  out  of  the  shade,  or  around  two  huge  dogs, 
chiens  de  garde,  which  are  let  loose  at  night  to  guard  the  pre 
cincts  ;  belly  deep,  in  a  pool  of  stagnant  water,  thirty  or  forty 
mules  were  swinking  in  the  sun  and  enjoying  their  day  of  rest. 

The  huts  of  the  negroes  engaged  in  the  house  are  separated 
from  those  of  the  slaves  devoted  to  field  labor  out  of  doors  by 
a  wooden  paling.  I  looked  into  several  of  the  houses,  but 
somehow  or  other  felt  a  repugnance,  I  dare  say  unjustifiable, 
to  examine  the  penetralia,  although  invited  —  indeed,  urged, 


SLAVE  QUARTERS.  257 

to  do  so  by  the  Governor.  It  was  not  that  I  expected  to  come 
upon  anything  dreadful,  but  I  could  not  divest  myself  of  some 
regard  for  the  feelings  of  the  poor  creatures,  slaves  though 
they  were,  who  stood  by,  shy,  courtesying.  and  silent,  as  I  broke 
in  upon  their  family  circle,  felt  their  beds,  and  turned  over 
their  clothing.  What  right  had  I  to  do  so  ? 

Swarms  of  flies,  tin  cooking  utensils  attracting  them  by 
remnants  of  molasses,  crockery,  broken  and  old,  on  the  dressers, 
more  or  less  old  clothes  on  the  wall,  these  varied  over  and  over 
again,  were  found  in  all  the  huts  ;  not  a  sign  of  ornament  or 
decoration  was  visible ;  not  the  most  tawdry  print,  image  of 
Virgin  or  Saviour ;  not  a  prayer-book  or  printed  volume.  The 
slaves  are  not  encouraged,  or  indeed  permitted  to  read,  and 
some  communities  of  slave-owners  punish  heavily  those  at 
tempting  to  instruct  them. 

All  the  slaves  seemed  respectful  to  their  master  ;  dressed  in 
their  best,  they  courtesied,  and  came  up  to  shake  hands  with 
him  and  with  me.  4  Among  them  were  some  very  old  men  and 
women,  the  canker-worms  of  the  estate,  who  were  dozing 
away  into  eternity,  mindful  only  of  hominy,  and  pig,  and 
molasses.  Two  negro  fiddlers  were  -working  their  bows  with 
energy  in  front  of  one  of  the  huts,  and  a  crowd  of  little  children 
were  listening  to  the  music,  together  with  a  few  grown-up 
persons  of  color,  some  of  them  from  the  adjoining  plantations. 
The  children  are  generally  dressed  in  a  little  sack  of  coarse 
calico,  which  answers  all  reasonable  purposes,  even  if  it  be  flot 
very  clean. 

It  might  be  an  interesting  subject  of  inquiry  to  the  natural 
philosophers  who  follow  crinology  to  determine  why  it  is  that 
the  hair  of  the  infant  negro,  or  child,  up  to  six  or  seven 
years  of  age,  is  generally  a  fine  red  russet,  or  even  gamboge 
color,  and  gradually  darkens  into  dull  ebon.  These  little  bod 
ies  were  mostly  large-stomached,  well  fed,  and  not  less  hap 
py  than  free  born-children,  although  much  more  valuable 
—  for  if  once  they  get  over  juvenile  dangers,  and  advance 
toward  nine  or  ten  years  of  age,  they  rise  in  value  to  £100  or 
more,  even  in  times  when  the  market  is  low  and  money  is 
scarce. 

The  women  were  not  very  well-favored ;  one  yellow  girl, 
with  fair  hair  and  light  eyes,  whose  child  was  quite  white,  ex- 
cepted  ;  the  men  were  disguised  in  such  strangely-cut  clothes, 
their  hats  and  shoes  and  coats  so  wonderfully  made,  that  one 
could  not  tell  what  their  figures  were  like.  On  all  faces  there 


258  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

was  a  gravity  which  must  be  the  index  to  serene  contentment 
and  perfect  comfort ;  for  those  who  ought  to  know  best  declare 
they  are  the  happiest  race  in  the  world. 

It  struck  me  more  and  more,  however,  as  I  examined  the 
expression  of  the  faces  of  the  slaves,  that  deep  dejection  is 
the  prevailing,  if  not  universal,  characteristic  of  the  race. 
Here  there  were  abundant  evidences  that  they  were  well 
treated  ;  they  had  good  clothing  of  its  kind,  food,  and  a  mas 
ter  who  wittingly  could  do  them  no  injustice,  as  he  is,  I  am 
sure,  incapable  of  it.  Still,  they  all  looked  sad,  and  eve'i 
the  old  woman  who  boasted  that  she  had  held  her  old  owner 
in  her  arms  when  he  was  an  infant,  did  not  smile  cheerfully, 
as  the  nurse  at  home  would  have  done,  at  the  sight  of  her  an 
cient  charge. 

The  negroes  rear  domestic  birds  of  all  kinds,  and  sell  eggs 
and  poultry  to  their  masters.  The  money  is  spent  in  pur 
chasing  tobacco,  molasses,  clothes,  and  flour ;  whiskey,  their 
great  delight,  they  must  not  have.  Some  seventy  or  eighty 
hands  were  quartered  in  this  part  of  the  estate. 

Before  leaving  the  enclosure  I  was  taken  to  the  hospital, 
which  Avas  in  charge  of  an  old  negress.  The  naked  rooms 
contained  several  flock  beds  on  rough  stands,  and  five  patients, 
three  of  whom  were  women.  They  sat  listlessly  on  the  beds, 
looking  out  into  space ;  no  books  to  amuse  them,  no  conversa 
tion —  nothing  but  their  own  dull  thoughts,  if  they  had  any. 
They  were  suffering  from  pneumonia  and  swellings  of  the 
glands  of  the  neck ;  one  man  had  fever.  Their  medical  at 
tendant  visits  them  regularly,  and  each  plantation  has  a  prac 
titioner,  who  is  engaged  by  the  term  for  his  services.  If  the 
growth  of  sugar-cane,  cotton,  and  corn,  be  the  great  end  of 
man's  mission  on  earth,  and  if  all  masters  were  like  Governor 
Roman,  slavery  might  be  defended  as  a  natural  and  innocuous 
institution.  Sugar  and  cotton  are,  assuredly,  two  great  agen 
cies  in  this  latter  world.  The  older  one  got  on  well  enough 
without  them. 

The  scraping  of  the  fiddles  attracted  us  to  the  sugar-house, 
where  the  juice  of  the  cane  is  expressed,  boiled,  granulated, 
and  prepared  for  the  refinery,  a  large  brick  building,  with  a 
factory-looking  chimney.  In  a  space  of  the  floor  unoccupied 
by  machinery  some  fifteen  women  and  as  many  men  were  as 
sembled,  and  four  couples  were  dancing  a  kind  of  Irish  jig 
to  the  music  of  the  negro  musicians  —  a  double  shuffle  in  a 
thumping  ecstasy,  with  loose  elbows,  pendulous  paws,  angu- 


CREOLE  PLANTERS.  259 

lated  knees,  heads  thrown  back,  and  backs  arched  inwards  — 
a  glazed  eye,  intense  solemnity  of  mien. 

At  this  time  of  year  there  is  no  work  done  in  the  sugar- 
house,  but  when  the  crushing  and  boiling  are  going  on,  the 
labor  is  intensely  trying,  and  the  hands  work  in  gangs  night 
and  day ;  and,  if  the  heat  of  the  fires  be  superadded  to  the 
temperature  in  September,  it  may  be  conceded  that  nothing 
but  "  involuntary  servitude "  could  go  through  the  toil  and 
suffering  required  to  produce  sugar. 

In  the  afternoon  the  Governor's  son  came  in  from  the  com 
pany  which  he  commands :  his  men  are  of  the  best  families  iu 
the  country —  planters  and  the  like.  We  sauntered  about  the 
gardens,  diminished,  as  I  have  said,  by  a  freak  of  the  river. 
The  French  Creoles  love  gardens ;  the  Anglo-Saxons  here 
about  do  not  much  affect  them,  and  cultivate  their  crops  up  to 
the  very  doorway. 

It  was  curious  to  observe  so  far  away  from  France  so  many 
traces  of  the  life  of  the  old  seigneur — the  early  meals,  in 
which  supper  took  the  place  of  dinner  —  frugal  simplicity  — 
and  yet  a  refinement  of  manner,  kindliness  and  courtesy  not 
to  be  exceeded. 

In  the  evening  several  officers  of  M.  Alfred  Roman's  com 
pany  and  neighboring  planters  dropped  in,  and  we  sat  out  in 
the  twilight,  under  the  trees  in  the  veranda,  illuminated  by 
the  flashing  fireflies,  and  talking  politics.  I  was  struck  by  the 
profound  silence  which  reigned  all  around  us,  except  a  low 
rushing  sound,  like  that  made  by  the  wind  blowing  over  corn 
fields,  which  came  from  the  mighty  river  before  us.  Nothing 
else  was  audible  but  the  sound  of  our  own  voices  and  the  dis 
tant  bark  of  a  dog.  After  the  steamer  which  bore  us  had 
passed  on,  I  do  not  believe  a  single  boat  floated  up  or  down 
the  stream,  and  but  one  solitary  planter,  in  his  gig  or  buggy, 
traversed  the  road,  which  lay  between  the  garden  palings  and 
the  bank  of  the  great  river. 

Our  friends  were  all  Creoles  —  that  is,  natives  of  Louisiana 
—  of  French  or  Spanish  descent.  They  are  kinder  and  bet 
ter  masters,  according  to  universal  repute,  than  native  Ameri 
cans  or  Scotch ;  but  the  New  England  Yankee  is  reputed  to 
be  the  severest  of  all  slave  owners.  All  these  gentlemen  to  a 
man  are  resolute  that  England  must  get  their  cotton  or  per 
ish.  She  will  take  it,  therefore,  by  force  ;  but  as  the  South  is 
determined  never  to  let  a  Yankee  vessel  carry  any  of  its  prod 
uce,  a  question  has  been  raised  by  Monsieur  Baroche,  who  is 


260  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

at  present  looking  around  him  in  New  Orleans,  which  causes 
some  difficulty  to  the  astute  and  statistical  Mr.  Forstall.  The 
French  economist  has  calculated  that  if  the  Yankee  vessels  be 
excluded  from  the  carrying  trade,  the  commercial  marine  of 
France  and  England  together  will  be  quite  inadequate  to  carry 
Southern  produce  to  Europe. 

But  Southern  faith  is  indomitable.  "With  their  faithful  ne 
groes  to  raise  their  corn,  sugar,  and  cotton,  whilst  their  young 
men  are  at  the  wars  ;  with  France  and  England  to  pour  gold 
into  their  lap  with  which  to  purchase  all  they  need  in  the  con 
test,  they  believe  they  can  beat  all  the  powers  of  the  Northern 
world  in  arms.  Illimitable  fields,  tilled  by  multitudinous  ne 
groes,  open  on  their  sight,  and  they  behold  the  empires  of 
Europe,  with  their  manufactures,  their  industry,  and  their 
wealth,  prostrate  at  the  base  of  their  throne,  crying  out,  "  Cot 
ton  !  More  cotton  !  That  is  all  we  ask  !  " 

Mr.  Forstall  maintains  the  South  can  raise  an  enormous 
revenue  by  a  small  direct  taxation  ;  whilst  the  North,  deprived 
of  Southern  resources,  will  refuse  to  pay  taxes  at  all,  and  will 
accumulate  enormous  debts,  inevitably  leading  to  its  financial 
ruin.  He,  like  every  Southern  man  I  have  as  yet  met,  ex 
presses  unbounded  confidence  in  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis.  I  am 
asked  invariably,  as  the  second  question  from  a  stranger, 
"  Have  you  seen  our  President,  sir  ?  don't  you  think  him  a 
very  able  man  ?  "  This  unanimity  in  the  estimate  of  his  char 
acter,  and  universal  confidence  in  the  head  of  the  State,  will 
prove  of  incalculable  value  in  a  civil  war. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Ride  through  the  maize-fields  —  Sugar  plantation ;  negroes  at  work  — 
Use  of  the  lash  —  Feeling  towards  France  —  Silence  of  the  coun 
try  —  Negroes  and  dogs  —  Theory  of  slavery  —  Physical  forma 
tion  of  the  negro  —  The  defence  of  slavery  —  The  masses  for  ne 
gro  souls  —  Convent  of  the  Sacre  Coeur  —  Ferry  house  —  A  large 
land-owner. 

June  3d. — At  five  o'clock  this  morning,  having  been  awak 
ened  an  hour  earlier  by  a  wonderful  chorus  of  riotous  mock 
ing-birds,  my  old  negro  attendant  brought  in  my  bath  of  Mis 
sissippi  water,  which,  Nile-like,  casts  down  a  strong  deposit, 
and  becomes  as  clear,  if  not  so  sweet,  after  standing.  "  Le 
seigneur  vous  attend ; "  and  already  I  saw,  outside  my  window, 
the  Governor  mounted  on  a  stout  cob,  and  a  nice  chestnut 
horse  waiting,  led  by  a  slave.  Early  as  it  was,  the  sun  felt 
excessively  hot,  and  I  envied  the  Governor  his  slouched  hat 
as  we  rode  through  the  fields,  crisp  with  dew.  In  a  few  min 
utes  our  horses  were  traversing  narrow  alleys  between  the  tall 
fields  of  maize,  which  rose  far  above  our  heads.  This  corn, 
as  it  is  called,  is  the  principal  food  of  the  negroes  ;  and  every 
planter  lays  down  a  sufficient  quantity  to  afford  him,  on  an 
average,  a  supply  all  the  year  round.  Outside  this  spread  vast 
fields,  hedgeless,  wall-less,  and  unfenced,  where  the  green  cane 
was  just  learning  to  wave  its  long  shoots  in  the  wind  —  a  lake 
of  bright  green  sugar-sprouts,  along  the  margin  of  which,  in 
the  distance,  rose  an  unbroken  boundary  of  forest,  two  miles 
in  depth,  up  to  the  swampy  morass,  all  to  be  cleared  and  turned 
into  arable  land  in  process  of  time.  From  the  river  front  to 
this  forest,  the  fields  of  rich  loam,  unfathomable,  and  yielding 
from  one  to  one  and  a  half  hogsheads  of  sugar  per  acre  under 
cultivation,  extend  for  a  mile  and  a  half  in  depth.  In  the 
midst  of  this  expanse  white  dots  were  visible  like  Sowers  seen 
on  the  early  march  in  Indian  fields,  many  a  time  and  oft. 
Those  are  the  gangs  of  hands  at  work  —  we  will  see  what 
they  are  at  presently.  This  little  reminiscence  of  Indian  life 
was  further  heightened  by  the  negroes  who  ran  beside  us  to 


262  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

whisk  flies  from  the  horses,  and  to  open  the  gates  in  the  plan 
tation  boundary.  When  the  Indian  corn  is  not  good,  peas  are 
sowed,  alternately,  between  the  stalks,  and  are  considered  to 
be  of  much  benefit ;  and  when  the  cane  is  bad,  corn  is  sowed 
with  it,  for  the  same  object.  Before  we  came  up  to  the  gangs 
we  passed  a  cart  on  the  road  containing  a  large  cask,  a  bucket 
full  of  molasses,  a  pail  of  hominy,  or  boiled  Indian  corn,  and 
a  quantity  of  tin  pannikins.  The  cask  contained  water  for 
the  negroes,  and  the  other  vessels  held  the  materials  for  their 
breakfast ;  in  addition  to  which,  they  generally  have  each  a  dried 
fish.  The  food  was  ample,  and  looked  wholesome  ;  such  as 
any  laboring  man  would  be  well  content  with.  Passing  along 
through  maize  on  one  side,  and  cane  at  another,  we  arrived  at 
last  at  a  patch  of  ground  where  thirty-six  men  and  women 
were  hoeing. 

Three  gangs  of  negroes  were  at  work :  one  gang  of  men, 
with  twenty  mules  and  ploughs,  was  engaged  in  running  through 
the  furrows  between  the  canes,  cutting  up  the  weeds,  and  clear 
ing  away  the  grass,  which  is  the  enemy  of  the  growing  shoot. 
The  mules  are  of  a  fine,  large,  good-tempered  kind,  and  under 
stand  their  work  almost  as  well  as  the  drivers,  who  are  usually 
the  more  intelligent  hands  on  the  plantation.  The  overseer,  a 
sharp-looking  Creole,  on  a  lanky  pony,  whip  in  hand,  superin 
tended  their  labors,  and,  after  a  salutation  to  the  Governor,  to 
whom  he  made  some  remarks  on  the  condition  of  the  crops, 
rode  off  to  another  part  of  the  farm.  With  the  exception  of 
crying  to  their  mules,  the  negroes  kept  silence  at  their  work. 

Another  gang  consisted  of  forty  men,  who  were  hoeing  out 
the  grass  in  Indian  corn.  The  third  gang,  of  thirty-six  wo 
men,  were  engaged  in  hoeing  out  cane.  Their  clothing  seemed 
heavy  for  the  climate  ;  their  shoes,  ponderous  and  ill-made,  had 
worn  away  the  feet  of  their  thick  stockings,  which  hung  in 
fringes  over  the  upper  leathers.  Coarse  straw  hats  and  bright 
cotton  handkerchiefs  protected  their  heads  from  the  sun.  The 
silence  which  I  have  already  alluded  to,  prevailed  among 
these  gangs  also  —  not  a  sound  could  be  heard  but  the  blows 
of  the  hoe  on  the  heavy  clods.  In  the  rear  of  each  gang 
stood  a  black  overseer,  with  a  heavy-thonged  whip  over  his 
shoulder.  If  "  Alcibiade  "  or  "  Pompee  "  were  called  out,  he 
came  with  outstretched  hand  to  ask  "  How  do  you  do,"  and 
then  returned  to  his  labor  ;  but  the  ladies  were  coy,  and  scarce 
ly  looked  up  from  under  their  flapping  chapeaux  de  paille  at 
their  visitors. 


HEAT  AND  COLD.  263 

Those  who  are  mothers  leave  their  children  in  the  charge 
of  certain  old  women,  unfit  for  anything  else,  and  "  suckers," 
as  they  are  called,  are  permitted  to  go  home,  at  appointed  pe 
riods  in  the  day,  to  give  the  infants  the  breast.  The  overseers 
have  power  to  give  ten  lashes  ;  but  heavier  punishment  ought 
to  be  reported  to  the  Governor ;  however,  it  is  not  likely  a 
good  overseer  would  be  checked,  in  any  way,  by  his  master. 
The  anxieties  attending  the  cultivation  of  sugar  are  great,  and 
so  much  depends  upon  the  judicious  employment  of  labor,  it 
is  scarcely  possible  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  experi 
ence  in  directing  it,  and  of  power  to  insist  on  its  application. 
When  the  frost  comes,  the  cane  is  rendered  worthless  —  one 
touch  destroys  the  sugar.  But  if  frost  is  the  enemy  of  the 
white  planter,  the  sun  is  scarcely  the  friend  of  the  black  man. 
The  sun  condemns  him  to  slavery,  because  it  is  the  heat  which 
is  the  barrier  to  the  white  man's  labor.  The  Governor  told 
me  that,  in  August,  when  the  crops  are  close,  thick-set,  and 
high,  and  the  vertical  sun  beats  down  on  the  laborers,  nothing 
but  a  black  skin  and  head  covered  with  wool  can  enable  a  man 
to  walk  out  in  the  open  field  and  live. 

We  returned  to  the  house  in  time  for  breakfast,  for  which 
our  early  cup  of  coffee  and  biscuit  and  the  ride  had  been  good 
preparation.  Here  was  old  France  again.  One  might 
imagine  a  lord  of  the  seventeenth  century  in  his  hall,  but  for 
the  black  faces  of  the  servitors  and  the  strange  dishes  of 
tropical  origin.  There  was  the  old  French  abundance,  the 
numerous  dishes  and  efflorescence  of  napkins,  and  the  long- 
necked  bottles  of  Bordeaux,  with  a  steady  current  of  pleasant 
small  talk.  I  saw  some  numbers  of  a  paper  called  "  La 
Misachibee"  which  was  the  primitive  Indian  name  of  the  grand 
river,  not  improved  by  the  addition  of  sibilant  Anglo-Saxon 
syllables. 

The  Americans,  not  unmindful  of  the  aid  to  which,  at  the 
end  of  the  War  of  Independence,  their  efforts  were  merely 
auxiliary,  delight,  even  in  the  North,  to  exalt  France  above 
her  ancient  rival :  but,  as  if  to  show  the  innate  dissimilarity  of 
the  two  races,  the  French  Creoles  exhibit  towards  the  New 
Englanders  and  the  North  an  animosity,  mingled  with  con 
tempt,  which  argues  badly  for  a  future  amalgamation  or 
reunion.  As  the  South  Carolinians  declare,  they  would  rather 
return  to  their  allegiance  under  the  English  monarchy,  so  the 
Louisianians,  although  they  have  no  sentiment  in  common 
with  the  people  of  republican  and  imperial  France,  assert 


264  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

they  would  far  sooner  seek  a  connection  with  the  old  country 
than  submit  to  the  yoke  of  the  Yankees. 

After  breakfast,  the  Governor  drove  out  by  the  ever-silent 
levee  for  some  miles,  passing  estate  after  estate,  where  grove 
nodded  to  grove,  each  alley  saw  its  brother.  One  could  form 
no  idea,  from  the  small  limited  frontage  of  these  plantations, 
that  the  proprietors  were  men  of  many  thousands  a  year, 
because  the  estates  extend  on  an  average  for  three  or  four 
miles  back  to  the  forest.  The  absence  of  human  beings  on  the 
road  was  a  feature  which  impressed  one  more  and  more.  But 
for  the  tall  chimneys  of  the  factories  and  the  sugar-houses,  one 
might  believe  that  these  villas  had  been  erected  by  some 
pleasure-loving  people  who  had  all  fled  from  the  river  banks 
for  fear  of  pestilence.  The  gangs  of  negroes  at  work  were 
hidden  in  the  deep  corn,  and  their  quarters  were  silent  and 
deserted.  We  met  but  one  planter,  in  his  gig,  until  we  arrived 
at  the  estate  of  Monsieur  Potier,  the  Governor's  brother-in-law. 
The  proprietor  was  at  home,  and  received  us  very  kindly, 
though  suffering  from  the  effects  of  a  recent  domestic  calamity. 
He  is  a  grave,  earnest  man  with  a  face  like  Jerome  Bonaparte, 
and  a  most  devout  Catholic ;  and  any  man  more  unfit  to  live  in 
any  sort  of  community  with  New  England  Puritans  one  cannot 
well  conceive ;  for  equal  intensity  of  purpose  and  sincerity  of 
conviction  on  their  part  could  only  lead  them  to  mortal  strife. 
His  house  was  like  a  French  chateau  erected  under  tropical 
influences,  and  he  led  us  through  a  handsome  garden  laid  out 
with  hot-houses,  conservatories,  orange-trees,  and  date-palms, 
and  ponds  full  of  the  magnificent  Victoria  Regia  in  flower. 
We  visited  his  refining  factories  and  mills,  but  the  heat  from  the 
boilers,  which  seemed  too  much  even  for  the  all-but-naked  ne 
groes  who  were  at  work,  did  not  tempt  us  to  make  a  very  long 
sojourn  inside.  The  ebony  faces  and  polished  black  backs  of 
the  slaves  were  streaming  with  perspiration  as  they  toiled  over 
boilers,  vat,  and  centrifugal  driers.  The  good  refiner  was  not 
gaining  much  money  at  present,  for  sugar  has  been  rapidly  fall 
ing  in  New  Orleans,  and  the  300,000  barrels  produced  annual 
ly  in  the  South  will  fall  short  in  the  yield  of  profits,  which  on 
an  average  may  be  taken  at  £11  a  hogshead,  without  counting 
the  molasses  for  the  planter.  With  a  most  perfect  faith  in 
States'  Rights,  he  seemed  to  combine  either  indifference  or  ig 
norance  in  respect  to  the  power  and  determination  of  the  North 
to  resist  secession  to  the  last.  All  the  planters  hereabouts 
have  sowed  an  unusual  quantity  of  Indian  corn,  to  have  food  for 


THE  NEGRO   QUESTION.  265 

the  negroes  if  the  war  lasts,  without  any  distress  from  inland 
or  sea  blockade.  The  absurdity  of  supposing  that  a  blockade 
can  injure  them  in  the  way  of  supply  is  a  favorite  theme  to 
descant  upon.  They  may  find  out,  however,  that  it  is  no  con 
temptible  means  of  warfare. 

At  night,  there  are  regular  patrols  and  watchmen,  who  look 
after  the  levee  and  the  negroes.  A  number  of  dogs  are  also 
loosed,  but  I  am  assured  that  the  creatures  do  not  tear  the  ne 
groes  ;  they  are  taught  "  merely  "  to  catch  and  mumble  them, 
to  treat  them  as  a  well-broken  retriever  uses  a  wounded  wild 
duck. 

At  six,  A.  M.,  Mo'ise  came  to  ask  me  if  I  should  like  a  glass 
of  absinthe,  or  anything  stomachic.  At  breakfast  was  Doctor 
Laporte,  formerly  a  member  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  of 
France,  who  was  exiled  by  Louis  Napoleon  ;  in  other  words,  he 
was  ordered  to  give  in  his  adhesion  to  the  new  regime,  or  to  take 
a  passport  for  abroad.  He  preferred  the  latter  course,  and  now, 
true  Frenchman,  finding  the  Emperor  has  aggrandized  France 
and  added  to  her  military  reputation,  he  admires  the  man  on 
whom  but  a  few  years  ago  he  lavished  the  bitterest  hate. 

The  carriage  is  ready,  and  the  word  farewell  is  spoken  at 
last.  M.  Alfred  Roman,  my  companion,  has  travelled  in  Eu 
rope,  and  learned  philosophy  ;  is  not  so  orthodox  as  many  of 
the  gentlemen  I  have  met  who  indulge  in  ingenious  hypotheses 
to  comfort  the  consciences  of  the  anthropo-proprietors.  The  ne 
gro  skull  won't  hold  as  many  ounces  of  shot  as  the  white  man's. 
Potent  proof  that  the  white  man  has  a  right  to  sell  and  to  own 
the  creature  !  He  is  plantigrade,  and  curved  as  to  the  tibia  ! 
Cogent  demonstration  that  he  was  made  expressly  to  work  for 
the  arch-footed,  straight-tibiaed  Caucasian.  He  has  a  rete 
mucosurn  and  a  colored  pigment  !  Surely  he  cannot  have  a 
soul  of  the  same  color  as  that  of  an  Italian  or  a  Spaniard,  far 
less  of  a  flaxen-haired  Saxon  !  See  these  peculiarities  in  the 
frontal  sinus  —  in  sinciput  or  occiput !  Can  you  doubt  that  the 
being  with  a  head  of  that  shape  was  made  only  to  till,  hoe,  and 
dig  for  another  race  ?  Besides,  the  Bible  says  that  he  is  a  son 
of  Ham,  and  prophecy  must  be  carried  out  in  the  rice-swamps, 
sugar-canes,. and  maize-fields  of  the  Southern  Confederation. 
It  is  flat  blasphemy  to  set  yourself  against  it.  Our  Saviour 
sanctions  slavery  because  he  does  not  say  a  word  against  it,  and 
it  is  very  likely  that  St.  Paul  was  a  slave-owner.  Had  cotton 
and  sugar  been  known,  the  apostle  might  have  been  a  planter  ! 
Furthermore,  the  negro  is  civilized  by  being  carried  away  from 
12 


266  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

Africa  and  set  to  work,  instead  of  idling  in  native  inutility. 
What  hope  is  there  of  Christianizing  the  African  races,  except 
by  the  agency  of  the  apostles  from  New  Orleans,  Mobile,  or 
Charleston,  who  sing  the  sweet  songs  of  Zion  with  such  vehe 
mence,  and  clamor  so  fervently  for  baptism  in  the  waters  of 
the  "  Jawdam  "  ? 

If  these  high  physical,  metaphysical,  moral  and  religious 
reasonings  do  not  satisfy  you,  and  you  are  bold  enough  to 
venture  still  to  be  unconvinced  and  to  say  so,  then  I  advise 
you  not  to  come  within  reach  of  a  mass  meeting  of  our  citi 
zens,  who  may  be  able  to  find  a  rope  and  a  tree  in  the  neigh 
borhood. 

As  we  jog  along  in  an  easy  rolling  carriage  drawn  by  a 
pair  of  stout  horses,  a  number  of  white  people  meet  us  com 
ing  from  the  Catholic  chapel  of  the  parish,  where  they  had 
been  attending  the  service  for  the  repose  of  the  soul  of  a  lady 
much  beloved  in  the  neighborhood.  The  black  people  must 
be  supposed  to  have  very  happy  souls,  or  to  be  as  utterly  lost 
as  Mr.  Shandy's  homunculus  was  under  certain  circumstances, 
for  I  have  failed  to  find  that  any  such  services  are  ever  con 
sidered  necessary  in  their  case,  although  they  may  have  been 
very  good  —  or,  where  the  service  would  be  most  desirable  — 
very  bad  Catholics.  The  dead,  leaden  uniformity  of  the 
scenery  forced  one  to  converse,  in  order  to  escape  profound 
melancholy  :  the  levee  on  the  right  hand,  above  which  nothing 
was  visible  but  the  sky  ;  on  the  left  plantations  with  cypress 
fences,  whitewashed  and  pointed  wooden  gates  leading  to  the 
planters'  houses,  and  rugged  gardens  surrounded  with  shrubs, 
through  which  could  be  seen  the  slave  quarters.  Men  making 
eighty  or  ninety  hogsheads  of  sugar  in  a  year  lived  in  most 
wretched  tumble-down  wooden  houses  not  much  larger  than 
ox  sheds. 

As  we  drove  on,  the  storm  gathered  overhead,  and  the  rain 
fell  in  torrents  —  the  Mississippi  flowed  lifelessly  by  —  not 
a  boat  on  its  broad  surface. 

At  last  we  reached  Governor  Manning's  place,  and  went  to 
the  house  of  the  overseer,  a  large  heavy-eyed  old  man. 

"  This  rain  will  do  good  to  the  corn,"  said  the  overseer. 
"  The  niggers  has  had  sceerce  nothin'  to  do  leetly,  as  they 
'eve  cleaned  out  the  fields  pretty  well." 

At  the  ferry-house  I  was  attended  by  one  stout  young  slave, 
who  was  to  row  me  over.  Two  flat-bottomed  skiffs  lay  on  the 
bank.  The  negro  groped  under  the  shed,  and  pulled  out  a 


THE  NEGRO  FERRYMAN.  267 

piece  of  wood  like  a  large  spatula,  some  four  feet  long,  and  a 
small  round  pole  a  little  longer.  "  What  are  those  ?"  quoth  I. 
"  Dem's  oars,  Massa,"  was  my  sable  ferryman's  brisk  reply. 
"  I'm  very  sure  they  are  not ;  if  they  were  spliced  they  might 
make  an  oar  between  them."  "  Golly,  and  dat's  the  trute, 
Massa."  "  Then  go  and  get  oars,  will  you  ?  "  While  he  was 
hunting  about  we  entered  the  shed  at  the  ferry  for  shelter 
from  the  rain.  We  found  "  a  solitary  woman  sitting  "  smok 
ing  a  pipe  by  the  ashes  on  the  hearth,  blear-eyed,  low-browed 
and  morose  —  young  as  she  was.  She  never  said  a  word  nor 
moved  as  we  came  in,  sat  and  smoked,  and  looked  through  her 
gummy  eyes  at  chickens  about  the  size  of  sparrows,  and  at  a 
cat  not  larger  than  a  rat  which  ran  about  on  the  dirty  floor. 
A  little  girl,  some  four  years  of  age,  not  overdressed  —  in 
deed,  half-naked,  "  not  to  put  too  fine  a  point  upon  it "  — 
crawled  out  from  under  the  bed,  where  she  had  hid  on  our 
approach.  As  she  seemed  incapable  of  appreciating  the  use 
of  a  small  piece  of  silver  presented  to  her  —  having  no  pre 
cise  ideas  in  coinage  or  toffy  —  her  parent  took  the  obolus  in 
charge,  with  unmistakable  decision  ;  but  still  the  lady  would 
not  stir  a  step  to  aid  our  guide,  who  now  insisted  on  the  "  key 
ov  de  oar-house."  The  little  thing  sidled  off  and  hunted  it  out 
from  the  top  of  the  bedstead,  and  when  it  was  found,  and  the 
boat  was  ready,  I  was  not  sorry  to  quit  the  company  of  the 
silent  woman  in  black.  The  boatman  pushed  his  skiff,  in  shape 
a  snuffer-dish,  some  ten  feet  long  and  a  foot  deep,  into  the 
water  —  there  was  a  good  deal  of  rain  in  it.  I  got  in  too, 
and  the  conscious  waters  immediately  began  vigorously  spurt 
ing  through  the  cotton  wadding  wherewith  the  craft  was 
calked.  Had  we  gone  out  into  the  stream  we  should  have 
had  a  swim  for  it,  and  they  do  say  that  the  Mississippi  is  the 
most  dangerous  river  in  the  known  world,  for  that  healthful 
exercise.  "  Why !  deuce  take  you  "  (I  said  at  least  that,  in 
my  wrath),  "  don't  you  see  the  boat  is  leaky  ?  "  "  See  it  now 
for  true,  Massa.  Nobody  able  to  tell  dat  till  Massa  get  in 
though."  Another  skiff  proved  to  be  more  stanch.  I  bade 
good-by  to  my  friend  Roman,  and  sat  down  in  my  boat,  which 
was  forced  by  the  negro  against  the  stream  close  to  the  bank, 
in  order  to  get  a  good  start  across  to  the  other  side.  The  view 
from  my  lonely  position  was  curious,  but  not  at  all  picturesque. 
The  world  was  bounded  on  both  sides  by  a  high  bank,  which 
constricted  the  broad  river,  just  as  if  one  were  sailing  down 
an  open  sewer  of  enormous  length  and  breadth.  Above  the 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

bank  rose  the  tops  of  tall  trees  and  the  chimneys  of  sugar- 
houses,  and  that  was  all  to  be  seen  save  the  skj. 

A  quarter  of  an  hour  brought  us  to  the  levee  on  the  other 
side.  I  ascended  the  bank,  and  across  the  road,  directly  in 
front  appeared  a  carriage  gateway  and  wickets  of  wood,  paint 
ed  white,  in  ?  line  of  park  palings  of  the  same  material,  which 
extended  up  and  down  the  road  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  and 
guarded  wide-spread  fields  of  maize  and  sugar-cane.  An 
avenue  lined  with  trees,  with  branches  close  set,  drooping  and 
overarching  a  walk  paved  with  red  brick,  led  to  the  house,  the 
porch  of  which  was  visible  at  the  extremity  of  the  lawn,  with 
clustering  flowers,  rose,  jasmine,  and  creepers,  clinging  to  the 
pillars  supporting  the  veranda.  The  view  from  the  belvedere 
on  the  roof  was  one  of  the  most  striking  of  its  kind  in  the 
world. 

If  an  English  agriculturist  could  see  six  thousand  acres  of 
the  finest  land  in  one  field,  unbroken  by  hedge  or  boundary, 
and  covered  with  the  most  magnificent  crops  of  tasselling  Indian 
corn  and  sprouting  sugar-cane,  as  level  as  a  billiard-table,  he 
would  surely  doubt  his  senses.  But  here  is  literally  such  a  sight 
—  six  thousand  acres,  better  tilled  than  the  finest  patch  in  all  the 
Lothians,  green  as  Meath  pastures,  which  can  be  turned  up  for  a 
hundred  years  to  come  without  requiring  manure,  of  depth  prac 
tically  unlimited,  and  yielding  an  average  profit  on  what  is  sold 
off  it  of  at  least  £20  an  acre,  at  the  old  prices  and  usual  yield  of 
sugar.  Rising  up  in  the  midst  of  the  verdure  are  the  white 
lines  of  the  negro  cottages  and  the  plantation  offices  and  sugar- 
houses,  which  look  like  large  public  edifices  in  the  distance. 
My  host  was  not  ostentatiously  proud  in  telling  me  that,  in  the 
year  1857,  he  had  purchased  this  estate  for  £300,000  and  an 
adjacent  property,  of  8000  acres,  for  £150,000,  and  that  he 
had  left  Belfast  in  early  youth,  poor  and  unfriended,  to  seek 
his  fortune,  and  indeed  scarcely  knowing  what  fortune  meant, 
in  the  New  World.  In  fact,  he  had  invested  in  these  purchases 
the  geater  part,  but  not  all,  of  the  profits  arising  from  the 
business  in  New  Orleans,  which  he  inherited  from  his  master; 
of  which  there  still  remained  a  solid  nucleus  in  the  shape  of  a 
great  woollen  magazine  and  country  house.  He  is  not  yet 
fifty  years  of  age,  and  his  confidence  in  the  great  future  of 
sugar  induced  him  to  embark  this  enormous  fortune  in  an 
estate  which  the  blockade  has  stricken  with  paralysis. 

I  cannot  doubt,  however,  that  he  regrets  he  did  not  invest 
his  money  in  a  certain  great  estate  in  the  North  of  Ireland, 


A  COAST  PLANTATION.  269 

which  he  had  nearly  decided  on  buying ;  and,  had  he  done 
so,  he  would  now  be  in  the  position  to  which  his  unaffected 
good  sense,  modesty,  kindliness,  and  benevolence,  always  add 
ing  the  rental,  entitle  him.  Six  thousand  acres  on  this  one 
estate  all  covered  with  sugar-cane,  and  16,000  acres  more  of 
Indian  corn,  to  feed  the  slaves ;  —  these  were  great  posses 
sions,  but  not  less  than  18,000  acres  still  remained,  covered 
with  brake  and  forest  and  swampy,  to  be  reclaimed  and  turned 
into  gold.  As  easy  to  persuade  the  owner  of  such  wealth 
that  slavery  is  indefensible  as  to  have  convinced  the  Norman 
baron  that  the  Saxon  churl  who  tilled  his  lands  ought  to  be 
his  equal. 

I  found  Mr.  Ward  and  a  few  merchants  from  New  Orleans 
in  possession  of  the  bachelor's  house.  The  service  was  per 
formed  by  slaves,  and  the  order  and  regularity  of  the  attend 
ants  were  worthy  of  a  well-regulated  English  mansion.  In 
Southern  houses  along  the  coast,  as  the  Mississippi  above 
New  Orleans  is  termed,  beef  and  mutton  are  rarely  met  with, 
and  the  more  seldom  the  better.  Fish,  also,  is  scarce,  but 
turkeys,  geese,  poultry,  and  preparations  of  pig,  excellent 
vegetables,  and  wine  of  the  best  quality,  render  the  absence 
of  the  accustomed  dishes  little  to  be  regretted. 

The  silence  which  struck  me  at  Governor  Roman's  is  not 
broken  at  Mr.  Burnside's  ;  and  when  the  last  thrill  of  the 
mocking-bird's  song  has  died  out  through  the  grove,  a  stillness 
of  Avernian  profundity  settles  on  hut,  field,  and  river. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Negroes  —  Sugar-cane  plantations  —  The  negro  and  cheap  labor  — 
Mortality  of  blacks  and  whites  —  Irish  labor  in  Louisiana  —  A 
sugar-house  —  Negro  children  —  Want  of  education  —  Negro  diet 
—  Negro  hospital  —  Spirits  in  the  morning  —  Breakfast  —  More 
slaves  —  Creole  planters. 

June  5th.  —  The  smart  negro  who  waited  on  me  this  morn 
ing  spoke  English.  I  asked  him  if  he  knew  how  to  read  and 
write.  —  "  We  must  not  do  that,  sir."  "  Where  were  you 
born?  "  —  "I  were  raised  on  the  plantation,  Massa,  but  I  have 
been  to  New  Orleens  ;  "  and  then  he  added,  with  an  air  of 
pride,  "I  s'pose,  sir,  Massa  Burnside  not  take  less  than  1500 
dollars  for  me."  Down-stairs  to  breakfast,  the  luxuries  of 
which  are  fish,  prawns,  and  red  meat  which  has  been  sent  for 
to  Donaldsonville  by  boat  rowed  by  an  old  negro.  Breakfast 
over,  I  walked  down  to  the  yard,  where  the  horses  were  wait 
ing,  and  proceeded  to  visit  the  saccharine  principality.  Mr. 
Seal,  the  overseer  of  this  portion  of  the  estate,  was  my  guide, 
if  not  philosopher  and  friend.  Our  road  lay  through  a  lane 
formed  by  a  cart  track,  between  fields  of  Indian  corn  just  be 
ginning  to  flower  —  as  it  is  called  technically,  to  "  tassel "  — 
and  sugar-cane.  There  were  stalks  of  the  former  twelve  or 
fifteen  feet  in  height,  with  three  or  four  ears  each,  round  which 
the  pea  twined  in  leafy  masses.  The  maize  affords  food  to 
the  negro,  and  the  husks  are  eaten  by  the  horses  and  mules, 
which  also  fatten  on  the  peas  in  rolling  time. 

The  wealth  of  the  land  is  inexhaustible  :  all  the  soil  requires 
is  an  alternation  of  maize  and  cane  ;  and  the  latter,  when  cut 
in  the  stalk,  called  "  ratoons,"  at  the  end  of  the  year,  produces 
a  fresh  crop,  yielding  excellent  sugar.  The  cane  is  grown 
from  stalks  which  are  laid  in  pits  during  the  winter  till  the 
ground  has  been  ploughed,  when  each  piece  of  cane  is  laid 
longitudinally  on  the  ridge  and  covered  with  earth,  and  from 
each  joint  of  the  stalk  springs  forth  a  separate  sprout  when 
the  crop  begins  to  grow.  At  present  the  sugar-cane  is  waiting 


SLAVERY  AND  FIELD  LABOR.  271 

for  its  full  development,  but  the  negro  labor  around  its  stem 
has  ceased.  It  is  planted  in  long  continuous  furrows,  and 
although  the  palm-like  tops  have  not  yet  united  in  a  uniform 
arch  over  the  six  feet  which  separates  row  from  row,  the  stalks 
are  higher  than  a  man.  The  plantation  is  pierced  with  wagon 
roads,  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  the  cane  to  the  sugar- 
mills,  and  these  again  are  intersected  by  and  run  parallel  with 
drains  and  ditches,  portions  of  the  great  system  of  irrigation 
and  drainage,  in  connection  with  a  canal  to  carry  off  the  sur 
plus  water  to  a  bayou.  The  extent  of  these  works  may  be 
estimated  by  the  fact  that  there  are  thirty  miles  of  road  and 
twenty  miles  of  open  deep  drainage  through  the  estate,  and 
that  the  main  canal  is  fifteen  feet  wide,  and  at  present  four 
feet  deep  ;  but  in  the  midst  of  this  waste  of  plenty  arid  wealth, 
where  are  the  human  beings  who  produce  both  ?  One  must 
go  far  to  discover  them  ;  they  are  buried  in  sugar  and  in 
maize,  or  hidden  in  negro  quarters.  In  truth,  there  is  no  trace 
of  them,  over  all  this  expanse  of  land,  unless  one  knows  where 
to  seek  ;  no  "  ploughboy  whistles  o'er  the  lea  ;"  no  rustic  stands 
to  do  his  own  work ;  but  the  gang  is  moved  off  in  silence  from 
point  to  point,  like  a  corps  d'armee  of  some  despotic  emperor 
manoeuvring  in  the  battle-field. 

Admitting  everything  that  can  be  said,  I  am  the  more  per 
suaded  from  what  I  see,  that  the  real  foundation  of  slavery  in 
the  Southern  States  lies  in  the  power  of  obtaining  labor  at  will 
at  a  rate  which  cannot  be  controlled  by  any  combination  of 
the  laborers.  Granting  the  heat  and  the  malaria,  it  is  not  for 
a  moment  to  be  argued  that  planters  could  not  find  white  men 
to  do  their  work  if  they  would  pay  them  for  the  risk.  A 
negro,  it  is  true,  bears  heat  well,  and  can  toil  under  the  blaz 
ing  sun  of  Louisiana,  in  the  stifling  air  between  the  thick-set 
sugar-canes;  but  the  Irishman  who  is  employed  in  the  stoke 
hole  of  a  steamer  is  exposed  to  a  higher  temperature  and 
physical  exertion  even  more  arduous.  The  Irish  laborer  can, 
however,  set  a  value  on  his  work  ;  the  African  slave  can  only 
determine  the  amount  of  work  to  be  got  from  him  by  the  ex 
haustion  of  his  powers.  Again,  the  indigo  planter  in  India, 
out  from  morn  till  night  amidst  his  ryots,  or  the  sportsman 
toiling  under  the  midday  sun  through  swamp  and  jungle, 
proves  that  the  white  man  can  endure  the  utmost  power  of  the 
hottest  sun  in  the  world  as  well  as  the  native.  More  than 
that,  the  white  man  seems  to  be  exempt  from  the  inflammatory 
disease,  pneumonia,  and  attacks  of  the  mucous  membrane  and 


272  MY  DIARY  NORTH   AND   SOUTH. 

respiratory  organs  to  which  the  blacks  are  subject ;  and  if  the 
statistics  of  negro  mortality  were  rigidly  examined,  I  doubt 
that  they  would  exhibit  as  large  a  proportion  of  mortality  and 
sickness  as  would  be  found  amongst  gangs  of  white  men  under 
similar  circumstances.  But  the  slave  is  subjected  to  rigid  con 
trol  ;  he  is  deprived  of  stimulating  drinks  in  which  the  free 
white  laborer  would  indulge  ;  and  he  is  obliged  to  support  life 
upon  an  antiphlogistic  diet,  which  gives  him,  however,  suf 
ficient  strength  to  execute  his  daily  task. 

It  is  in  the  supposed  cheapness  of  slave  labor  and  its  profit 
able  adaptation  in  the  production  of  Southern  crops,  that  the 
whole  gist  and  essence  of  the  question  really  lie.  The  planter 
can  get  from  the  labor  of  a  slave  for  whom  he  has  paid  £200, 
a  sum  of  money  which  will  enable  him  to  use  up  that  slave  in 
comparatively  a  few  years  of  his  life,  whilst  he  would  have  to 
pay  to  the  white  laborer  a  sum  that  would  be  a  great  apparent 
diminution  of  his  profits,  for  the  same  amount  of  work.  It  is 
calculated  that  each  field-hand,  as  an  able-bodied  negro  is 
called,  yields  seven  hogsheads  of  sugar  a  year,  which,  at  the 
rate  of  fourpence  a  pound,  at  an  average  of  a  hogshead  an 
acre,  would  produce  to  the  planter  £140  for  every  slave. 
This  is  wonderful  interest  on  the  planter's  money ;  but  he 
sometimes  gets  two  hogsheads  an  acre,  and  even  as  many  as 
three  hogsheads  have  been  produced  in  good  years  on  the  best 
lands ;  in  other  words,  two  and  a  quarter  tons  of  sugar  and 
refuse  stuff,  called  "  bagasse,"  have  been  obtained  from  an 
acre  of  cane.  Not  one  planter  of  the  many  I  have  asked 
has  ever  given  an  estimate  of  the  annual  cost  of  a  slave's 
maintenance  ;  the  idea  of  calculating  it  never  comes  into  their 
heads. 

Much  depends  upon  the  period  at  which  frost  sets  in  ;  and 
f  the  planters  can  escape  till  January  without  any  cold  to  nip 
he  juices  and  the  cane,  their  crop  is  increased  in  value  each 
lay ;  but  it  is  not  till  October  they  can  begin  to  send  cane  to 
he  mill,  in  average  seasons  ;  and  if  the  frost  does  not  come 
ill  December,  they  may  count  upon  the  fair  average  of  a  hogs- 
lead  of  1200  pounds  of  sugar  to  every  acre. 

The  labor  of  ditching,  trenching,  cleaning  the  waste  lands, 
and  hewing  down  the  forests,  is  generally  done  by  Irish 
laborers,  who  travel  about  the  country  under  contractors,  Gl 
are  engaged  by  resident  gangsmen  for  the  task.  Mr.  Seal 
lamented  the  high  prices  of  this  work ;  but  then,  as  he  said, 
"  It  was  much  better  to  have  Irish  to  do  it,  who  cost  nothing 


PERQUISITES   OF  SLAVES.  273 

to  the  planter,  if  they  died,  than  to  use  up  good  field-hands  in 
such  severe  employment."  There  is  a  wonderful  mine  of 
truth  in  this  observation.  Heaven  knows  how  many  poor  Hi 
bernians  have  been  consumed  and  buried  in  these  Louisianian 
swamps,  leaving  their  earnings  to  the  dramshop-keeper  and 
the  contractor,  and  the  results  of  their  toil  to  the  planter. 
This  estate  derives  its  name  from  an  Indian  tribe  called 
Houmas;  and  when  Mr.  Burnside  purchased  it  for  £300,000, 
he  received  in  the  first  year  £63,000  as  the  clear  value  of  the 
crops  on  his  investment. 

The  first  place  I  visited  with  the  overseer  was  a  new  sugar- 
house,  which  negro  carpenters  and  masons  were  engaged  in 
erecting.  It  would  have  been  amusing,  had  not  the  subject 
been  so  grave,  to  hear  the  overseer's  praises  of  the  intelligence 
and  skill  of  these  workmen,  and  his  boast  that  they  did  all  the 
work  of  skilled  laborers  on  the  estate,  and  then  to  listen  to 
him,  in  a  few  minutes,  expatiating  on  the  utter  helplessness 
and  ignorance  of  the  black  race,  their  incapacity  to  do  any 
good,  or  even  to  take  care  of  themselves. 

There  are  four  sugar-houses  on  this  portion  of  Mr.  Burn- 
side's  estate,  consisting  of  grinding-mills,  boiling-houses,  and 
crystallizing  sheds. 

The  sugar-house  is  the  capital  of  the  negro  quarters,  and 
to  each  of  them  is  attached  an  enclosure,  in  which  there  is  a 
double  row  of  single-storied  wooden  cottages,  divided  into  two 
or  four  rooms.  An  avenue  of  trees  runs  down  the  centre  of 
the  negro  street,  and  behind  each  hut  are  rude  poultry- 
hutches,  which,  with  geese  and  turkeys,  and  a  few  pigs,  form 
the  perquisites  of  the  slaves,  and  the  sole  source  from 
which  they  derive  their  acquaintance  with  currency.  Their 
terms  are  strictly  cash.  An  old  negro  brought  up  some  ducks 
to  Mr.  Burnside  last  night,  and  offered  the  lot  of  six  for  three 
dollars.  "  Very  well,  Louis  ;  if  you  come  to-morrow,  I'll  pay 
you."  "  No,  massa  ;  me  want  de  money  now."  "  But  won't 
you  give  me  credit,  Louis?  Don't  you  think  I'll  pay  the 
three  dollars  ? "  "  Oh,  pay  some  day,  massa,  sure  enough. 
Massa  good  to  pay  de  tree  dollar ;  but  this  nigger  want  money 
now  to  buy  food  and  things  for  him  leetle  famly.  They  will 
trust  massa  at  Donaldsville,  but  they  won't  trust  this  nigger." 
I  was  told  that  a  thrifty  negro  will  sometimes  make  ten  or 
twelve  pounds  a  year  from  his  corn  and  poultry ;  but  he  can 
have  no  inducement  to  hoard ;  for  whatever  is  his,  as  well  as 
himself,  belongs  to  his  master. 
12* 


274  MY  DIARY  NOKTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Mr.  Seal  conducted  me  to  a  kind  of  forcing-house,  where 
the  young  negroes  are  kept  in  charge  of  certain  old  crones 
too  old  for  work,  whilst  their  parents  are  away  in  the  cane 
and  Indian  corn.  A  host  of  children  of  both  sexes  were 
seated  in  the  veranda  of  a  large  wooden  shed,  or  playing 
around  it,  very  happily  and  noisily.  I  was  glad  to  see  the 
boys  and  girls  of  nine,  ten,  and  eleven  years  of  age  were  at 
this  season,  at  all  events,  exempted  from  the  cruel  fate  which 
befalls  poor  children  of  their  age  in  the  mining  and  manu 
facturing  districts  of  England.  At  the  sight  of  the  overseer, 
the  little  ones  came  forward  in  tumultuous  glee,  babbling  out, 
"  Massa  Seal,"  and  evidently  pleased  to  see  him. 

As  a  jolly  agriculturist  looks  at  his  yearlings  or  young 
beeves,  the  kindly  overseer,  lolling  in  his  saddle,  pointed  with 
his  whip  to  the  glistening  fat  ribs  and  corpulent  paunches  of 
his  woolly -headed  flock.  "  There's  not  a  plantation  in  the 
State,"  quoth  he,  "  can  show  such  a  lot  of  young  niggers. 
The  way  to  get  them  right  is  not  to  work  the  mothers  too 
hard  when  they  are  near  their  time  ;  to  give  them  plenty  to 
eat,  and  not  to  send  them  to  the  fields  too  soon."  He  told  me 
the  increase  was  about  five  per  cent,  per  annum.  The  chil 
dren  were  quite  sufficiently  clad,  ran  about  round  us,  patted  tho 
horses,  felt  our  legs,  tried  to  climb  up  on  the  stirrup,  and 
twinkled  their  black  and  ochrey  eyes  at  Massa  Seal.  Some 
were  exceedingly  fair  ;  and  Mr.  Seal,  observing  that  my  eye 
followed  these,  murmured  something  about  the  overseers  be 
fore  Mr.  Burnside's  time  being  rather  a  bad  lot.  He  talked 
about  their  color  and  complexion  quite  openly ;  nor  did  it 
seem  to  strike  him  that  there  was  any  particular  turpitude 
in  the  white  man  who  had  left  his  offspring  as  slaves  on  tha 
plantation. 

A  tall,  well-built  lad  of  some  nine  or  ten  years  stood  by 
me,  looking  curiously  into  my  face.  "What  is  your  name  ?" 
said  I.  "  George,"  he  replied.  "  Do  you  know  how  to  read 
or  write  ? "  He  evidently  did  not  understand  the  question. 
"  Do  you  go  to  church  or  chapel  ?  "  A  dubious  shake  of  the 
head.  "  Did  you  ever  hear  of  our  Saviour  ?  "  At  this  point 
Mr.  Seal  interposed,  and  said,  "  I  think  we  had  better  go  on, 
as  the  sun  is  getting  hot,"  and  so  we  rode  gently  through  the 
little  ones  ;  and  when  we  had  got  some  distance  he  said,  rather 
apologetically,  "  We  don't  think  it  right  to  put  these  things 
into  their  heads  so  young,  it  only  disturbs  their  minds,  and 
leads  them  astray." 


NEGRO  HOSPITALS.  275 

Now,  in  this  one  quarter  there  were  no  less  than  eighty 
children,  some  twelve  and  some  even  fourteen  years  of  age. 
No  education  —  no  God  —  their  whole  life  —  food  and  play, 
to  strengthen  their  muscles  and  fit  them  for  the  work  of  a 
slave.  « And  when  they  die  ? "  "  Well,"  said  Mr.  Seal, 
"  they  are  buried  in  that  field  there  by  their  own  people,  and 
some  of  them  have  a  sort  of  prayers  over  them,  I  believe." 
The  overseer,  it  is  certain,  had  no  fastidious  notions  about 
slavery  ;  it  was  to  him  the  right  thing  in  the  right  place,  and 
hb  summiim  bonum  was  a  high  price  for  sugar,  a  good  crop, 
and  a  healthy  plantation.  Nay,  I  am  sure  I  would  not 
wrong  him  if  I  said  he  could  see  no  impropriety  in  running  a 
good  cargo  of  regular  black  slaves,  who  might  clear  the  great 
backwood  and  swampy  undergrowth,  which  was  now  exhaust 
ing  the  energies  of  his  field-hands,  in  the  absence  of  Irish 
navvies. 

Each  negro  gets  five  pounds  of  pork  a  week,  and  as  much 
Indian  corn  bread  as  he  can  eat,  with  a  portion  of  molasses, 
and  occasionally  they  have  fish  for  breakfast.  All  the  car 
penters'  and  smiths'  work,  the  erection  of  sheds,  repairing  of 
carts  and  ploughs,  and  the  baking  of  bricks  for  the  farm 
buildings,  are  done  on  the  estate  by  the  slaves.  The  ma 
chinery  comes  from  the  manufacturing  cities  of  the  North  ; 
but  great  efforts  are  made  to  procure  it  from  New  Orleans, 
where  factories  have  been  already  established.  On  the  bor 
ders  of  the  forest  the  negroes  are  allowed  to  plant  corn  for 
their  own  use,  and  sometimes  they  have  an  overplus,  which 
they  sell  to  their  masters.  Except  when  there  is  any  harvest 
pressure  on  their  hands,  they  have  from  noon  on  Saturday  till 
dawn  on  Monday  morning  to  do  as  they  please,  but  they  must 
not  stir  off  the  plantation  on  the  road,  unless  with  special 
permit,  which  is  rarely  granted. 

There  is  an  hospital  on  the  estate,  and  even  shrewd  Mr. 
Seal  did  not  perceive  the  conclusion  that  was  to  be  drawn 
from  his  testimony  to  its  excellent  arrangements.  "  Once  a 
nigger  gets  in  there,  he'd  like  to  live  there  for  the  rest  of  his 
life."  But  are  they  not  the  happiest,  most  contented  people 
in  the  world  —  at  any  rate,  when  they  are  in  hospital  ?  I 
declare  that  to  me  the  more  orderly,  methodical,  and  perfect 
the  arrangements  for  economizing  slave  labor  —  regulating 
slaves  —  are,  the  more  hateful  and  odious  does  slavery  be 
come.  I  would  much  rather  be  the  animated  human  chattel 
of  a  Turk,  Egyptian,  Spaniard,  or  French  Creole,  than  the 


276  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

laboring  beast  of  a  Yankee  or  of  a  New  England  capital 
ist. 

When  I  returned  back  to  the  house  I  found  my  friends  en 
joying  a  quiet  siesta,  and  the  rest  of  the  afternoon  was  de 
voted  to  idleness,  not  at  all  disagreeable  with  a  thermometer 
worthy  of  Agra.  Even  the  mocking-birds  were  roasted  into 
silence,  and  the  bird  which  answers  to  our  rook  or  crow  sat 
on  the  under  branches  of  the  trees,  gaping  for  air  with  his  bill 
wide  open.  It  must  be  hot  indeed  when  the  mocking-bird 
loses  his  activity.  There  is  one,  with  its  nest  in  a  rose-bush 
trailed  along  the  veranda  under  my  window,  which  now  sits  over 
its  young  ones  with  outspread  wings,  as  if  to  protect  them  from 
being  baked  ;  and  it  is  so  courageous  and  affectionate,  that 
when  I  approach  quite  close,  it  merely  turns  round  its  head, 
dilates  its  beautiful  dark  eye,  and  opens  its  beak,  within  which 
the  tiny  sharp  tongue  is  saying,  I  am  sure,  "  Don't  for  good 
ness'  sake  disturb  me,  for  if  you  force  me  to  leave,  the  children 
will  be  burned  to  death." 

June  6th.  —  My  chattel  Joe,  "  adscriptus  miJii  domino? 
awoke  me  to  a  bath  of  Mississippi  water  with  huge  lumps  of 
ice  in  it,  to  which  he  recommended  a  mint-julep  as  an  ad 
junct.  It  was  not  here  that  I  was  first  exposed  to  an  ordeal 
of  mint-julep,  for  in  the  early  morning  a  stranger  in  a  South 
ern  planter's  house  may  expect  the  offer  of  a  glassful  of 
brandy,  sugar,  and  peppermint  beneath  an  island  of  ice  —  an 
obligatory  panacea  for  all  the  evils  of  climate.  After  it  has 
been  disposed  of,  Pornpey  may  come  up  again  with  glass 
number  two  :  "  Massa  say  fever  very  bad  this  morning  — 
much  dew."  It  is  possible  that  the  degenerate  Anglo-Saxon 
stomach  has  not  the  fine  tone  and  temper  of  that  of  an  Hiber 
nian  friend  of  mine,  who  considered  the  finest  thing  to  coun 
teract  the  effects  of  a  little  excess  was  a  tumbler  of  hot  whiskey 
and  water  the  moment  the  sufferer  opened  his  eyes  in  the 
morning.  Therefore,  the  kindly  offering  may  be  rejected. 
But  on  one  occasion  before  breakfast  the  negro  brought  up 
mint-julep  number  three,  the  acceptance  of  which  he  enforced 
by  the  emphatic  declaration,  "  Massa  says,  sir,  you  had  better 
take  this,  because  it'll  be  the  last  he  make  before  breakfast." 

Breakfast  is  served :  there  is  on  the  table  a  profusion  of 
dishes  —  grilled  fowl,  prawns,  eggs  and  ham,  fish  from  New 
Orleans,  potted  salmon  from  England,  preserved  meats  from 
France,  claret,  iced  water,  coffee  and  tea,  varieties  of  hominy, 
mush,  and  African  vegetable  preparations.  Then  come  the 


A  NEGRO'S  EARLY  REMINISCENCES.  277 

newspapers,  which  are  perused  eagerly  with  ejaculations,  "  Do 
you  hear  what  they  are  doing  now  —  infernal  villains !  that 
Lincoln  must  be  mad ! "  and  the  like.  At  one  o'clock,  in 
spite  of  the  sun,  I  rode  out  with  Mr.  Lee,  along  the  road  by 
the  Mississippi,  to  Mr.  Burnside's  plantation,  called  Orange 
Grove,  from  a  few  trees  which  still  remain  in  front  of  the 
overseer's  house.  We  visited  an  old  negro,  called  "  Boat 
swain,"  who  lives  with  his  old  wife  in  a  wooden  hut  close  by 
the  margin  of  the  Mississippi.  His  business  is  to  go  to  Don 
aldson  ville  for  letters,  or  meat,  or  ice  for  the  house  —  a  tough 
row  for  the  withered  old  man.  He  is  an  African  born,  and 
he  just  remembers  being  carried  on  board  ship  and  taken  to 
some  big  city  before  he  came  upon  the  plantation. 

"  Do  you  remember  nothing  of  the  country  you  came  from, 
Boatswain?"  "Yes,  sir.  Jist  remember  trees  and  sweet 
things  my  mother  gave  me,  and  much  hot  sand  I  put  my 
feet  in,  and  big  leaves  that  we  play  with  —  all  us  little  chil 
dren  —  and  plenty  to  eat,  and  big  birds  and  shells."  "  Would 
you  like  to  go  back,  Boatswain  ?  "  "  What  for,  sir  ?  no  one 
know  old  Boatswain  there.  My  old  missus  Sally  inside." 
"  Are  you  quite  happy,  Boatswain  ?  "  "  I'm  getting  very  old, 
massa.  Massa  Burnside  very  good  to  Boatswain,  but  who 
care  for  such  dam  old  nigger  ?  Golla  Mighty  *ave  me  four 
teen  children,  but  he  took  them  all  away  again  from  Sally 
and  me.  No  budy  care  much  for  dam  old  nigger  like  me." 

Further  on  Mr.  Seal  salutes  us  from  the  veranda  of  his 
house,  but  we  are  bound  for  overseer  Gibbs,  who  meets  us, 
mounted,  by  the  roadside  —  a  man  grim  in  beard  and  eye, 
and  silent  withal,  with  a  big  whip  in  his  hand  and  a  large 
knife  stuck  in  his  belt.  He  leads  us  through  a  magnificent 
area  of  cane  and  maize,  the  latter  towering  far  above  our 
heads ;  but  I  was  most  anxious  to  see  the  forest  primeval 
which  borders  the  clear  land  at  the  back  of  the  estate,  and 
spreads  away  over  alligator-haunted  swamps  into  distant 
bayous.  It  was  not,  however,  possible  to  gratify  one's  cu 
riosity  very  extensively  beyond  the  borders  of  the  cleared 
land,  for  rising  round  the  roots  of  the  cypress,  swamp-pine, 
and  live-oak,  there  was  a  barrier  of  undergrowth  and  bush 
twined  round  the  cane-brake  which  stands  some  sixteen  feet 
high,  so  stiff  that  the  united  force  of  man  and  horse  could 
not  make  way  against  the  rigid  fibres ;  and  indeed,  as  Mr. 
Gibbs  told  us,  "  When  the  niggers  take  to  the  cane-brake  they 
can  beat  man  or  dog,  and  nothing  beats  them  but  snakes  and 
starvation." 


278  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

He  pointed  out  some  sheds  around  which  were  broken  bot 
tles  where  the  last  Irish  gang  had  been  working,  under  one 
"John  Loghlin,"  of  Donaldsonville,  a  great  contractor,  who, 
he  says,  made  plenty  of  money  out  of  his  countrymen,  whose 
bones  are  lying  up  and  down  the  Mississippi.  "  They  due 
work  like  fire,"  he  said.  "  Loghlin  does  not  give  them  half 
the  rations  we  give  our  negroes,  but  he  can  always  manage 
them  with  whiskey ;  and  when  he  wants  them  to  do  a  job  he 
gives  them  plenty  of  '  forty-rod,'  and  they  have  their  fight 
out  —  reglar  free  fight,  I  can  tell  you,  while  it  lasts.  Next 
morning  they  will  sign  anything  and  go  anywhere  with  him." 

On  the  Orange  Grove  Plantation,  although  the  crops  were 
so  fine,  the  negroes  unquestionably  seemed  less  comfortable 
than  those  in  the  quarters  of  Houmas,  separated  from  them 
by  a  mere  nominal  division.  Then,  again,  there  were  more 
children  with  fair  complexions  to  be  seen  peeping  out  of  the 
huts  ;  some  of  these  were  attributed  to  the  former  overseer, 
one  Johnson  by  name,  but  Mr.  Gibbs,  as  if  to  vindicate  his 
memory,  told  me  confidentially  he  had  paid  a  large  sum  of 
money  to  the  former  proprietor  of  the  estate  for  one  of  his 
children,  and  had  carried  it  away  with  him  when  he  left. 
"  You  could  not  expect  him,  you  know,"  said  Gibbs,  "  to  buy 
them  all  at  ftie  prices  that  were  then  going  in  '56.  All  the 
children  on  the  estate,"  added  he,  "  are  healthy,  and  I  can 
show  my  lot  against  Seal's  over  there,  though  I  hear  tell  he 
had  a  great  show  of  them  out  to  you  yesterday." 

The  bank  of  the  river  below  the  large  plantation  was  occu 
pied  by  a  set  of  small  Creole  planters,  whose  poor  houses  were 
close  together,  indicating  very  limited  farms,  which  had  been 
subdivided  from  time  to  time,  according  to  the  French  fashion ; 
so  that  the  owners  have  at  last  approached  pauperism ;  but 
they  are  tenacious  of  their  rights,  and  will  not  yield  to  the 
tempting  price  offered  by  the  large  planters.  They  cling  to 
the  soil  without  enterprise  and  without  care.  The  Spanish 
settlers  along  the  river  are  open  to  the  same  reproach,  and 
prefer  their  own  ease  to  the  extension  of  their  race  in  other 
lands,  or  to  the  aggrandizement  of  their  posterity;  and  an 
Epicurean  would  aver,  they  were  truer  philosophers  than  the 
restless  creatures  who  wear  out  their  lives  in  toil  and  labor  to 
found  empires  for  the  future. 

It  is  among  these  men  that,  at  times,  slavery  assumes  its 
harshest  aspect,  and  that  the  negroes  are  exposed  to  the 
severest  labor ;  but  it  is  also  true  that  the  slaves  have  closer 


FRENCH  CREOLES.  279 

relations  with  the  families  of  their  owners,  and  live  in  more 
intimate  connection  with  them  than  they  do  under  the  strict 
police  of  the  large  plantations.  These  people  sometimes  get 
forty  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre,  and  a  hogshead  and  a  half 
of  sugar.  We  saw  their  children  going  to  school,  whilst  the 
heads  of  the  houses  sat  in  the  veranda  smoking,  and  their 
mothers  were  busy  with  household  duties  ;  and  the  signs  of 
life,  the  voices  of  women  and  children,  and  the  activity  vis 
ible  on  the  little  farms,  contrasted  not  unpleasantly  with  the 
desert-like  stillness  of  the  larger  settlements.  Rode  back  in 
a  thunder-storm. 

At  dinner  in  the  evening  Mr.  Burnside  entertained  a  num 
ber  of  planters  in  the  neighborhood,  —  M.  Bringier,  M. 
Coulon  (French  Creoles),  Mr.  Duncan  Kenner,  a  medical 
gentleman  named  Cotmann,  and  others;  the  last-named 
gentleman  is  an  Unionist,  and  does  not  hesitate  to  defend  his 
opinions;  but  he  has,  during  a  visit  to  Russia,  formed  high 
ideas  of  the  necessity  and  virtues  of  an  absolute  and  central 
ized  government. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

War-rumors,  and  military  movements  —  Governor  Manning's  slave 
plantations  —  Fortunes  made  by  slave-labor  —  Frogs  for  the  table 
—  The  forest  —  Cotton  and  sugar  —  A  thunder-storm. 

June  1th.  —  The  Confederate  issue  of  ten  millions  sterling, 
in  bonds  payable  in  twenty  years  is  not  sufficient  to  meet  the 
demands  of  Government ;  and  the  four  millions  of  small  Treas 
ury  notes,  without  interest,  issued  by  Congress,  are  being  rap 
idly  absorbed.  Whilst  the  Richmond  papers  demand  an 
immediate  movement  on  Washington,  the  journals  of  New 
York  are  clamoring  for  an  advance  upon  Richmond.  The 
planters  are  called  upon  to  accept  the  Confederate  bonds  in 
payment  of  the  cotton  to  be  contributed  by  the  States. 

Extraordinary  delusions  prevail  on  both  sides.  The  North 
believe  that  battalions  of  scalping  Indian  savages  are  actually 
stationed  at  Harper's  Ferry.  One  of  the  most  important 
movements  has  been  made  by  Major-General  McClellan,  who 
has  marched  a  force  into  Western  Virginia  from  Cincinnati, 
has  occupied  a  portion  of  the  line  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
railway,  which  was  threatened  with  destruction  by  the  Seces 
sionists  ;  and  has  already  advanced  as  far  as  Grafton.  Gen. 
McDowell  has  been  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Federal 
forces  in  Virginia.  Every  day  regiments  are  pouring  down 
from  the  North  to  Washington.  General  Butler,  who  is  in 
command  at  Fortress  Monroe,  has  determined  to  employ  ne 
gro  fugitives,  whom  he  has  called  "  Contrabands/'  in  the  works 
about  the  fort,  feeding  them,  and  charging  the  cost  of  their 
keep  against  the  worth  of  their  services  ;  and  Mr.  Cameron, 
the  Secretary  of  War,  has  ordered  him  to  refrain  from  sur 
rendering  such  slaves  to  their  masters,  whilst  he  is  to  permit 
no  interference  by  his  soldiers  with  the  relations  of  persons 
held  to  service  under  the  laws  of  the  States  in  which  they 
are  in. 

Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  has  arrived  at  Richmond.  At  sea  the 
Federal  steamers  have  captured  a  number  of  Southern  ves- 


MONSIEUR  CRAPAUD.  281 

sels ;  and  some  small  retaliations  Lave  been  made  by  the 
Confederate  privateers.  The  largest  mass  of  the  Confederate 
troops  have  assembled  at  a  place  called  Manassas  Junction, 
on  the  railway  from  Western  Virginia  to  Alexandria. 

The  Northern  papers  are  filled  with  an  account  of  a  battle 
at  Philippi,  and  a  great  victory,  in  which  no  less  than  two  of 
their  men  were  wounded  and  two  were  reported  missing  as 
the  whole  casualties ;  but  Napoleon  scarcely  expended  so 
much  ink  over  Austerlitz  as  is  absorbed  on  this  glory  in  the 
sensation  headings  of  the  New  York  papers. 

After  breakfast  I  accompanied  a  party  of  Mr.  Burnside's 
friends  to  visit  the  plantations  of  Governor  Manning,  close  at 
hand.  One  plantation  is  as  like  another  as  two  peas.  We 
had  the  same  paths  through  tasselling  corn,  high  above  our 
heads,  or  through  wastes  of  rising  sugar-cane  ;  but  the  slave 
quarters  on  Governor  Manning's  were  larger,  better  built, 
and  more  comfortable-looking  than  any  I  have  seen. 

Mr.  Bateman,  the  overseer,  a  dour  strong  man,  with  specta 
cles  on  nose,  and  a  quid  in  his  cheek,  led  us  over  the  ground. 
As  he  saw  my  eye  resting  on  a  large  knife  in  a  leather  case 
stuck  in  his  belt,  he  thought  it  necessary  to  say,  "  I  keep  this 
to  cut  my  way  through  the  cane-brakes  about ;  they  are  so 
plaguey  thick." 

All  the  surface  water  upon  the  estate  is  carried  into  a  large 
open  drain,  with  a  reservoir  in  which  the  fans  of  a  large  wheel, 
driven  by  steam-power,  are  worked  so  as  to  throw  the  water 
over  to  a  cut  below  the  level  of  the  plantation,  which  carries  it 
into  a  bayou  connected  with  the  lower  Mississippi. 

Jn  this  drain  one  of  my  companions  saw  a  prodigious  frog, 
about  the  size  of  a  tortoise,  on  which  he  pounced  with  alacrity  ; 
and  on  carrying  his  prize  to  land  he  was  much  congratulated 
by  liis  friend.  "  What  on  earth  will  you  do  with  the  horrid 
reptile  ?  "  "  Do  with  it !  why,  eat  it  to  be  sure."  And  it  is 
actually  true,  that  on  our  return  the  monster  "  crapaud  "  was 
handed  over  to  the  old  cook,  and  presently  appeared  on  the 
breakfast-table,  looking  very  like  an  uncommonly  fine  spatch 
cock,  and  was  partaken  of  with  enthusiasm  by  all  the  com 
pany. 

From  the  draining-wheel  we  proceeded  to  visit  the  forest, 
where  negroes  were  engaged  in  clearing  the  trees,  turning  up 
the  soil  between  the  stumps,  which  marked  where  the  mighty 
sycamore,  live  oak,  gum-trees,  and  pines  had  lately  shaded  the 
rich  earth.  In  some  places  the  Indian  corn  was  already  wav- 


282  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

ing  its  head  and  tassels  above  the  black  gnarled  roots  ;  in  other 
spots  the  trees,  girdled  by  the  axe,  but  not  yet  down,  rose  up 
from  thick  crops  of  maize  ;  and  still  deeper  in  the  wood 
negroes  were  guiding  the  ploughs,  dragged  with  pain  and  dif 
ficulty  by  mules,  three  abreast,  through  the  tangled  roots  and 
rigid  earth,  which  will  next  year  be  fit  for  sowing.  There 
were  one  hundred  and  twenty  negroes  at  work ;  and  these, 
with  an  adequate  number  of  mules,  will  clear  four  hundred 
and  fifty  acres  of  land  this  year.  "  But  it's  death  on  niggers 
and  mules,"  said  Mr.  Bateman.  "  We  generally  do  it  witli 
Irish,  as  well  as  the  hedging  and  ditching ;  but  we  can't  gei 
them  now,  as  they  are  all  off  to  the  wars." 

Although  the  profits  of  sugar  are  large,  the  cost  of  erecting 
the  machinery,  the  consumption  of  wood  in  the  boiler,  and  the 
scientific  apparatus,  demand  a  far  larger  capital  than  is  re 
quired  by  the  cotton  planter,  who,  when  he  has  got  land,  may 
procure  negroes  on  credit,  and  only  requires  food  and  clothing 
till  he  can  realize  the  proceeds  of  their  labor,  and  make  a  cer 
tain  fortune.  Cotton  will  keep  where  sugar  spoils.  The 
prices  are  far  more  variable  in  the  latter,  although  it  has  a 
protective  tariff  of  twenty  per  cent. 

The  whole  of  the  half  million  of  hogsheads  of  the  sugar 
grown  in  the  South  is  consumed  in  the  United  States,  whereas 
most  of  the  cotton  is  sent  abroad  ;  but  in  the  event  of  a  block 
ade  the  South  can  use  its  sugar  ad  nauseam,  whilst  the  cotton 
is  all  but  useless  in  consequence  of  the  want  of  manufacturers 
in  the  South. 

When  I  got  back,  Mr.  Burnside  was  seated  in  his  veranda, 
gazing  with  anxiety,  but  not  with  apprehension,  on  the  march 
ing  columns  of  black  clouds,  which  were  lighted  up  from  time 
to  time  by  heavy  flashes,  and  shaken  by  rolls  of  thunder. 
Day  after  day  the  planters  have  been  looking  for  rain,  tapping 
glasses,  scrutinizing  aneroids,  consulting  negro  weather  proph 
ets,  and  now  and  then  their  expectations  were  excited  by 
clouds  moving  down  the  river,  only  to  be  disappointed  by  their 
departure  into  space,  or,  worse  than  all,  their  favoring  more 
distant  plantations  with  a  shower  that  brought  gold  to  many  a 
coffer.  "Did  you  ever  see  such  luck?  Kenner  has  got  it 
again !  That's  the  third  shower  Bringier  has  had  in  the  last 
two  days." 

But  it  was  now  the  turn  of  all  our  friends  to  envy  us  a 
tremendous  thunder-storm,  with  a  heavy,  even  downfall  of 
rain,  which  was  sucked  up  by  the  thirsty  earth  almost  as  fast 


PRAYING  FOR  RAIN.  283 

as  it  fell,  and  filled  the  lusty  young  corn  with  growing  pains, 
imparting  such  vigor  to  the  cane  that  we  literally  saw  it 
sprouting  up,  and  could  mark  the  increase  in  height  of  the 
stems  from  hour  to  hour. 

My  good  host  is  rather  uneasy  about  his  prospects  this 
year,  owing  to  the  war ;  and  no  wonder.  He  reckoned  on  an 
income  of  £100,000  for  his  sugar  alone;  but  if  he  cannot 
send  it  North  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  diminution  of 
his  profits.  I  fancy,  indeed,  he  more  and  more  regrets  that 
he  embarked  his  capital  in  these  great  sugar-swamps,  and  that 
he  would  gladly  now  invest  it  at  a  loss  in  the  old  country,  of 
which  he  is  yet  a  subject ;  for  he  has  never  been  naturalized 
in  the  United  States.  Nevertheless,  he  rejoices  in  the  finest 
clarets,  and  in  wines  of  fabulous  price,  which  are  tended  by 
an  old  white-headed  negro,  who  takes  as  much  care  of  the 
fluid  as  if  he  was  accustomed  to  drink  it  every  day. 


CHAPTER   XXXVI. 

Visit  to  Mr.  Mf  Call's  plantation  —  Irish  and  Spaniards  —  The  planter 

—  A  Southern  sporting  man  —  The  Creoles  —  Leave  Houmas  — 
Donaldsonville  —  Description    of   the    City  —  Baton    Rouge  — 
Steamer  to  Natchez  —  Southern  feeling  ;  faith  in  Jefferson  Davis 

—  Rise  and  progress  of  prosperity   for  the  planters  —  Ultimate 
issue  of  the  war  to  both  North  and  South. 

June  Sth.  —  According  to  promise,  the  inmates  of  Mr. 
Burnside's  house  proceeded  to  pay  a  visit  to-day  to  the  plan 
tation  of  Mr.  M'Call,  who  lives  at  the  other  side  of  the  river 
some  ten  or  twelve  miles  away.  Still  the  same  noiseless  plan 
tations,  the  same  oppressive  stillness,  broken  only  by  the  toll 
ing  of  the  bell  which  summons  the  slaves  to  labor,  or  marks 
the  brief  periods  of  its  respite !  Whilst  waiting  for  the  ferry 
boat,  we  visited  Dr.  Cotmann,  who  lives  in  a  snug  house  near 
the  levee,  for,  hurried  as  we  were,  'twould  nevertheless  have 
been  a  gross  breach  of  etiquette  to  have  passed  his  doors ; 
and  I  was  not  sorry  for  the  opportunity  of  making  the  ac 
quaintance  of  a  lady  so  amiable  as  his  wife,  and  of  seeing  a 
face  with  tender,  pensive  eyes,  serene  brow,  and  lovely  con 
tour,  such  as  Guido  or  Greuse  would  have  immortalized,  and 
which  Miss  Cotmann,  in  the  seclusion  of  that  little  villa  on 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  scarcely  seemed  to  know,  would 
have  made  her  a  beauty  in  any  capital  in  Europe. 
t  The  Doctor  is  allowed  to  rave  on  about  his  Union  propen 
sities  and  political  power,  as  Mr.  Petigru  is  permitted  to  in 
dulge  in  similar  vagaries  in  Charleston,  simply  because  he  is 
supposed  to  be  helpless.  There  is,  however,  at  the  bottom  of 
the  Doctor's  opposition  to  the  prevailing  political  opinion  of 
the  neighborhood,  a  jealousy  of  acres  and  slaves,  and  a  senti 
ment  of  animosity  to  the  great  seigneurs  and  slave-owners, 
which  actuate  him  without  his  being  aware  of  their  influence. 
After  a  halt  of  an  hour  in  his  house,  we  crossed  in  the  ferry 
to  Donaldsonville,  where,  whilst  we  were  waiting  for  the  car 
riages,  we  heard  a  dialogue  between  some  drunken  Irishmen 


SPANISH  AND  IRISH  VOLUNTEERS.  285 

and  some  still  more  inebriated  Spaniards  in  front  of  the  public- 
house  at  hand.  The  Irishmen  were  going  off  to  the  wars,  and 
were  endeavoring  in  vain  to  arouse  the  foreign  gentlemen  to 
similar  enthusiasm ;  but,  as  the  latter  were  resolutely  sitting 
in  the  gutter,  it  became  necessary  to  exert  eloquence  and  force 
to  get  them  on  their  legs  to  march  to  the  head-quarters  of  the 
Donaldsonville  Chasseurs.  "  For  the  love  of  the  Virgin  and 
your  own  sowl's  sake,  Fernandey,  get  up  and  cum  along  wid 
us  to  fight  the  Yankees."  "  Josey,  are  you  going  to  let,  us  be 
murdered  by  a  set  of  damned  Protestins  and  rascally  nig 
gers?"  "  Gorney,  my  darling,  get  up;  it's  eleven  dollars  a 
month,  and  food  and  everything  found.  The  boys  will  mind 
the  fishing  for  you,  and  we'll  come  back  as  rich  as  Jews." 

What  success  attended  their  appeals  I  cannot  tell,  for  the 
carriages  came  round,  and,  having  crossed  a  great  bayou 
which  runs  down  into  an  arm  of  the  Mississippi  near  the  sea, 
we  proceeded  on  our  way  to  Mr.  M'Call's  plantation,  which 
we  reached  just  as  the  sun  was  sinking  into  the  clouds  of  an 
other  thunder-storm. 

The  more  one  sees  of  a  planter's  life  the  greater  is  the  con 
viction  that  its  charms  come  from  a  particular  turn  of  mind, 
which  is  separated  by  a  wide  interval  from  modern  ideas  in 
Europe.  The  planter  is  a  denomadized  Arab;  —  he  has  fixed 
himself  with  horses  and  slaves  in  a  fertile  spot,  where  he 
guards  his  women  with  Oriental  care,  exercises  patriarchal 
sway,  and  is  at  once  fierce,  tender,  and  hospitable.  The  inner 
life  of  his  household  is  exceedingly  charming,  because  one  is 
astonished  to  find  the  graces  and  accomplishments  of  woman 
hood  displayed  in  a  scene  which  has  a  certain  sort  of  savage 
rudeness  about  it  after  all,  and  where  all  kinds  of  incongruous 
accidents  are  visible  in  the  service  of  the  table,  in  the  furni 
ture  of  the  house,  in  its  decorations,  menials,  and  surrounding 
scenery. 

It  was  late  in  the  evening  when  the  party  returned  to 
Donaldsonville  ;  and  when  we  arrived  at  the  other  side  of  the 
bayou  there  were  no  carriages,  so  that  we  had  to  walk  on  foot 
to  the  wharf  where  Mr.  Burnside's  boats  were  supposed  to  be 
waiting  —  the  negro  ferry-man  having  long  since  retired  to 
rest.  Under  any  circumstances  a  march  on  foot  through  an 
unknown  track  covered  with  blocks  of  timber  and  other  im 
pedimenta  which  represented  the  road  to  the  ferry,  could  not 
be  agreeable ;  but  the  recent  rains  had  converted  the  ground 
into  a  sea  of  mud  filled  with  holes,  with  islands  of  planks  and 


286  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

beams  of  timber,  lighted  only  by  the  stars  —  and  then  this  in 
dress  trousers  and  light  boots  ! 

We  plunged,  struggled,  and  splashed  till  we  reached  the 
levee,  where  boats  there  were  none ;  and  so  Mr.  Burnside 
shouted  up  and  down  the  river,  so  did  Mr.  Lee,  and  so  did 
Mr.  Ward  and  all  the  others,  whilst  I  sat  on  a  log  affecting 
philosophy  and  indifference,  in  spite  of  tortures  from  mosqui 
toes  innumerable,  and  severe  bites  from  insects  unknown. 

The  city  and  river  were  buried  in  darkness  ;  the  rush  of  the 
stream  which  is  sixty  feet  deep  near  the  banks,  was  all  that 
struck  upon  the  ear  in  the  intervals  of  the  cries,  "  Boat  ahoy  ! " 
"  Ho !  Batelier ! "  and  sundry  ejaculations  of  a  less  regular 
and  decent  form.  At  length  a  boat  did  glide  out  of  the  dark 
ness,  and  the  man  who  rowed  it  stated  he  had  been  waiting  all 
the  time  up  the  bayou,  till  by  mere  accident  he  came  down  to 
the  jetty,  having  given  us  up  for  the  night.  In  about  half  an 
hour  we  were  across  the  river,  and  had  per  force  another  in 
terview  with  Dr.  Cotmann,  who  regaled  us  with  his  best  in 
story  and  in  wine  till  the  carriages  were  ready,  and  we  drove 
back  to  Mr.  Burnside's,  only  meeting  on  the  way  two  mount 
ed  horsemen  with  jingling  arms,  who  were,  we  were  told,  the 
night  patrol ;  —  of  their  duties  I  could,  however,  obtain  no 
very  definite  account. 

June  9th.  —  A  thunder-storm,  which  lasted  all  the  morning 
and  afternoon  till  three  o'clock.  When  it  cleared  I  drove,  in 
company  with  Mr.  Burnside  and  his  friends,  to  dinner  with 
Mr.  Duncan  Kenner,  who  lives  some  ten  or  twelve  miles 
above  Houmas.  He  is  one  of  the  sporting  men  of  the  South, 
well  known  on  the  Charleston  race-course,  and  keeps  a  large 
stable  of  racehorses  and  brood  mares,  under  the  management 
of  an  Englishman.  The  jocks  were  negro  lads ;  and  when 
we  arrived,  about  half  a  dozen  of  them  were  giving  the  colts 
a  run  in  the  paddock.  The  calveless  legs  and  hollow  thighs 
of  the  negro  adapt  him  admirably  for  the  pigskin  ;  and  these 
little  fellows  sat  their  horses  so  well,  one  might  have  thought, 
till  the  turn  in  the  course  displayed  their  black  faces  and  grin 
ning  mouths,  he  was  looking  at  a  set  of  John  Scott's  young 
gentlemen  out  training. 

The  Carolinians  are  true  sportsmen,  and  in  the  South  the 
Charleston  races  create  almost  as  much  sensation  as  our  Derby 
at  home.  One  of  the  guests  at  Mr.  Kenner's  knew  all  about 
the  winners  of  Epsom  Oaks,  and  Ascot,  and  took  delight  in 
showing  his  knowledge  of  the  "  Racing  Calendar." 


DONALDSONVILLE.  287 

It  is  observable,  however,  that  the  Creoles  do  not  exhibit 
any  great  enthusiasm  for  horse-racing,  but  that  they  apply 
themselves  rather  to  cultivate  their  plantations  and  to  domestic 
duties  ;  and  it  is  even  remarkable  that  they  do  not  stand  prom 
inently  forward  in  the  State  Legislature,  or  aspire  to  high 
political  influence  and  position,  although  their  numbers  and 
wealth  would  fairly  entitle  them  to  both.  The  population  of 
small  settlers,  scarcely  removed  from  pauperism,  along  the  river 
banks,  is  courted  by  men  who  obtain  larger  political  influence 
than  the  great  land-owners,  as  the  latter  consider  it  beneath 
them  to  have  recourse  to  the  arts  of  the  demagogue. 

June  10^.  —  At  last  venit  summa  dies  et  ineluctabile  tempus. 
I  had  seen  as  much  as  might  be  of  the  best  phase  of  the  great 
institution  —  less  than  I  could  desire  of  a  most  exemplary, 
kind-hearted,  clear-headed,  honest  man.  In  the  calm  of  a 
glorious  summer  evening  we  crossed  the  Father  of  Waters, 
waving  an  adieu  to  the  good  friend  who  stood  on  the  shore, 
and  turning  our  backs  to  the  home  we  had  left  behind  us.  It 
was  dark  when  the  boat  reached  Donaldsonville  on  the  oppo 
site  "  coast." 

I  should  not  be  surprised  to  hear  that  the  founder  of  this 
remarkable  city,  which  once  contained  the  archives  of  the 
State,  now  transferred  to  Baton  Rouge,  was  a  North  Briton. 
There  is  a  simplicity  and  economy  in  the  plan  of  the  place 
not  unfavorable  to  that  view,  but  the  motives  which  induced 
Donaldson  to  found  his  Rome  on  the  west  of  Bayou  La 
Fourche  from  the  Mississippi  must  be  a  secret  to  all  time. 
Much  must  the  worthy  Scot  have  been  perplexed  by  his 
neighbors,  a  long-reaching  colony  of  Spanish  Creoles,  who  toil 
not  and  spin  nothing  but  flshing-nets,  and  who  live  better  than 
Solomon,  and  are  probably  as  well-dressed,  minus  the  bar 
baric  pearl  and  gold  of  the  Hebrew  potentate.  Take  the 
odd,  little,  retiring,  modest  houses  which  grow  in  the  hollows 
of  Scarborough,  add  to  them  the  least  imposing  mansions  in 
the  town  of  Folkstone,  cast  these  broadsown  over  the  surface 
of  the  Essex  marshes,  plant  a  few  trees  in  front  of  them,  then 
open  a  few  cafes  billard  of  the  camp  sort  along  the  main 
street,  and  you  have  done  a  very  good  Donaldsonville. 

A  policeman  welcomes  us  on  the  landing,  and  does  the 
honors  of  the  market,  which  has  a  beggarly  account  of 
empty  benches,  a  Texan  bull  done  into  beef,  and  a  coffee- 
shop.  The  policeman  is  a  tall,  lean,  west-countryman  ;  his 
story  is  simple,  and  he  has  it  to  tell.  He  was  one  of  Dan 


288  MY  DIARY  KORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Rice's  company  —  a  travelling  Astley.  He  came  to  Donald- 
sonville,  saw,  and  was  conquered  by  one  of  the  Spanish 
beauties,  married  her,  became  tavern-keeper,  failed,  learned 
French,  and  is  now  constable  of  the  parish.  There  was, 
however,  a  weight  on  his  mind.  He  had  studied  the  matter 
profoundly,  but  he  was  not  near  the  bottom.  How  did  the 
friends,  relatives,  and  tribe  of  his  wife  live  ?  No  one  could 
say.  They  reared  chickens,  and  they  caught  fish  ;  when  there 
was  a  pressure  on  the  planters,  they  turned  out  to  work  for 
Qs.  Qd.  a-day,  but  those  were  rare  occasions.  The  policeman 
had  become  quite  gray  with  excogitating  the  matter,  and  he 
had  "  nary  notion  how  they  did  it.''' 

Donaldson ville  has  done  one  fine  thing.  It  has  furnished 
two  companies  of  soldiers  —  all  Irishmen  —  to  the  wars,  and 
the  third  is  in  the  course  of  formation.  Not  much  hedging, 
ditching,  or  hard  work  these  times  for  Paddy  !  The  black 
smith,  a  huge  tower  of  muscle,  claims  exemption  on  the 
ground  that  "  the  divil  a  bit  of  him  comes  from  Oireland  : 
he  nivir  hird  af  it,  ban-in'  from  the  buks  he  rid,"  and  is 
doing  his  best  to  remain  behind,  but  popular  opinion  is 
against  him. 

As  the  steamer  could  not  be  up  from  New  Orleans  till 
dawn,  it  was  a  relief  to  saunter  through  Donaldsonville  to  see 
society,  which  consisted  of  several  gentlemen  and  various  Jews 
playing  games  unknown  to  Hoyle,  in  oaken  bar-rooms  flanked 
by  billiard  tables.  Dr.  Cotrnann,  who  had  crossed  the  river 
to  see  patients  suffering  from  an  attack  of  euchre,  took  us 
round  to  a  little  club,  where  I  was  introduced  to  a  number 
of  gentlemen,  who  expressed  great  pleasure  at  seeing  me, 
shook  hands  violently,  and  walked  away ;  and,  finally,  melted 
off  into  a  cloud  of  mosquitoes  by  the  river-bank,  into  a  box 
prepared  for  them,  which  was  called  a  bedroom. 

These  rooms  were  built  of  timber  on  the  stage  close  by  the 
river.  "  Why  can't  I  have  one  of  these  rooms  ?  "  asked  I, 
pointing  to  a  larger  mosquito  box.  "  It  is  engaged  by  ladies." 
"  How  do  you  know  ?"  " Parceque  dies  out  envoye  leur  butin" 
It  was  delicious  to  meet  the  French  "plunder"  lor  baggage  — 
the  old  phrase,  so  nicely  rendered  —  in  the  mouth  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  boatman. 

Having  passed  a  night  of  discomfiture  with  the  winged 
demons  of  my  box,  I  was  aroused  by_  the  booming  of  the 
steam  drum  of  the  boat,  dipped  my  head  in  water  among 
drowned  mosquitoes,  and  went  forth  upon  the  landing.  The 


WHISKEY  IN  DANGER.  289 

policeman  had  just  arrived.  His  eagle  eye  lighted  upon  a 
large  flat  moored  alongside,  on  the  stern  of  which  was  in 
scribed  in  chalk,  "  Pork,  corn,  butter,  beef,"  &c.  Several 
"  spry  "  citizens  were  also  on  the  platform.  After  salutations 
and  compliments,  policeman  speaks  —  "  When  did  she  come 
in  ? "  (meaning  flat.)  First  citizen  — "  In  the  night,  I 
guess."  Second  citizen  —  "  There's  a  lot  of  whiskey  aboord, 
too."  Policeman  (with  pleased  surprise)  —  "  Yeu  never 
mean  it  ? "  First  citizen  —  "  Yes,  sir ;  one  hundred  and 
twenty  gallons  !  "  Policeman  (inspired  by  patriotism)  — 
"  It's  a  west-country  boat ;  why  dont  the  citizens  seize  it  ? 
And  whiskey  rising  from  17c.  to  35c.  a  gallon  !  "  Citizens 
murmur  approval,  and  I  feel  the  whiskey  part  of  the  cargo 
is  not  safe.  "  Yes,  sir,"  says  citizen  three,  "  they  seize  all  our 
property  at  Cairey  (Cairo),  and  I'm  making  an  example  of 
this  cargo." 

Further  reasons  for  the  seizure  were  adduced,  and  it  is 
probable  they  were  as  strong  as  the  whiskey,  which  has,  no 
no  doubt,  been  drunk  long  ago  on  the  very  purest  principles. 
In  course  of  conversation  with  the  committee  of  taste  which 
had  assembled,  it  was  revealed  to  me  that  there  was  a  strict 
watch  kept  over  those  boats  which  are  freighted  with  whiskey 
forbidden  to  the  slaves,  and  with  principles,  when  they  come 
from  the  west  country,  equally  objectionable.  "  Did  you  hear, 
sir,  of  the  chap  over  at  Duncan  Kenner's,  as  was  caught  the 
other  day  ?  "  "  No,  sir ;  what  was  it  ?  "  "  Well,  sir,  he  was 
a  man  that  came  here  and  went  over  among  the  niggers  at 
Kenner's  to  buy  their  chickens  from  them.  He  was  took  up, 
and  they  found  he'd  a  lot  of  money  about  him."  "  Well,  of 
course,  he  had  money  to  buy  the  chickens."  "  Yes,  sir,  but 
it  looked  suspeec-ious.  He  was  a  west-country  fellow,  tew, 
and  he  might  have  been  tamperin'  with  'em.  Lucky  for  him 
he  was  not  taken  in  the  arternoon."  "Why  so?"  "Be 
cause,  if  the  citizens  had  been  drunk,  they'd  have  hung  him 
on  the  spot." 

The  Acadia  was  now  along-side,  and  in  the  early  morning 
Donaldsonville  receded  rapidly  into  trees  and  clouds.  To  bed, 
and  make  amends  for  mosquito  visits,  and  after  a  long  sleep 
look  out  again  on  the  scene.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  we 
have  been  going  eleven  miles  an  hour  against  the  turbid  river, 
which  is  of  the  same  appearance  as  it  was  below  —  the  same' 
banks,  bends,  driftwood,  and  trees.  Large  timber  rafts,  nav 
igated  by  a  couple  of  men,  who  stood  in  the  shade  of  a  few 
13 


290  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

upright  boards,  were  encountered  at  long  intervals.  White 
egrets  and  blue  herons  rose  from  the  marshes.  At  every 
landing  the  whites  who  came  down  were  in  some  sort  of  uni 
form.  There  were  two  blacks  placed  on  board  at  one  of  the 
landings  in  irons  —  captured  runaways  —  and  very  miserable 
they  looked  at  the  thought  of  being  restored  to  the  bosom  of 
the  patriarchal  family  from  which  they  had,  no  doubt,  so 
prodigally  eloped.  I  fear  the  fatted  calf-skin  would  be  ap 
plied  to  their  backs. 

June  \\th.  —  Before  noon  the  steamer  hauled  along-side  a 
stationary  hulk  at  Baton  Rouge,  which  once  "  walked  the 
waters"  by  the  aid  of  machinery,  but  which  was  now  used  as 
a  floating  hotel,  depot,  and  storehouse  —  315  feet  long,  and 
fully  thirty  feet  on  the  upper  deck  above  the  level  of  the 
river.  The  Acadia  stopped,  and  I  disembarked.  Here  were 
my  quarters  till  the  boat  for  Natchez  should  arrive.  The 
proprietor  of  the  floating  hotel  was  somewhat  excited  be 
cause  one  of  his  servants  was  away.  The  man  presently 

came  in  sight.  "  Where  have  you  been  you  • ?  "  "  Away 

to  buy  de  newspaper,  Massa."  "  For  who,  you ?"  "  Me 

buy  'em  for  no  one,  Massa  ;  me  sell  'nm  agin,  Massa."  "  See 

now,  you  ,  if  ever  you  goes  aboard  them  steamers  to 

meddle  with  newspapers,  I'm  but  I'll  kill  you,  mind 

that ! " 

Baton  Rouge  is  the  capital  of  the  State  of  Louisiana,  and 
the  State  House  thereof  is  a  very  quaint  and  very  new  exam 
ple  of  bad  taste.  The  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum  near  it  is  in 
a  much  better  style.  It  was  my  intention  to  have  visited  the 
State  Prison  and  Penitentiary,  but  the  day  was  too  hot,  and 
the  distance  too  great,  and  so  I  dined  at  the  oddest  little  cre- 
ole  restaurant,  with  the  funniest  old  hostess,  and  the  strangest 
company  in  the  world. 

On  returning  to  the  boat  hotel,  Mr.  Conrad,  one  of  the  cit 
izens  of  the  place,  and  Mr.  W.  Avery,  a  judge  of  the  district 
court,  were  good  enough  to  call  and  to  invite  me  to  remain 
some  time,  but  I  was  obliged  to  decline.  These  gentlemen 
were  members  of  the  home  guard,  and  drilled  assiduously 
every  evening.  Of  the  1300  voters  at  Baton  Rouge,  more 
than  750  are  already  off  to  the  wars,  and  another  company 
is  being  formed  to  follow  them.  Mr.  Conrad  has  three  sons 
in  the  field,  and  another  is  anxious  to  follow,  and  he  and  his 
friend,  Mr.  Avery,  are  quite  ready  to  die  for  the  disunion. 
The  waiter  who  served  out  drinks  in  the  bar  wore  a  uniform, 


NATCHEZ  PLANTERS.  291 

and  his  musket  lay  in  the  corner  among  the  brandy  bottles. 
At  night  a  patriotic  meeting  of  citizen  soldiery  took  place  in 
the  bow,  with  which  song  and  whiskey  had  much  to  do,  so 
that  sleep  was  difficult. 

Precisely  at  seven  o'clock  on  Wednesday  morning  the  Mary 
T.  came  alongside,  and  soon  afterward  bore  me  on  to  Natchez, 
through  scenery  which  became  wilder  and  less  cultivated  as 
she  got  upwards.  Of  the  1500  steamers  on  the  river,  not  a 
tithe  are  now  in  employment,  and  the  owners  of  these  profit 
able  flotillas  are  "  in  a  bad  way."  It  was  late  at  night  when 
the  steamer  arrived  at  Natchez,  and  next  morning  early  I 
took  shelter  in  another  engineless  steamer  beside  the  bank  of 
the  river  at  Natchez-under-the-hill,  which  was  thought  to  be 
a  hotel  by  its  owners. 

In  the  morning  I  asked  for  breakfast.  "  There  is  nothing 
for  breakfast ;  go  to  Curry's  on  shore."  Walk  up  hill  to 
Curry's  —  a  bar-room  occupied  by  a  waiter  and  flies.  "  Can 
I  have  any  breakfast  ?  "  "  No,  sir-ree  ;  it's  over  half-an-hour 
ago."  "Nothing  to  eat  at  all?"  "No,  sir."  "Can  I  get 
some  anywhere  else  ?  "  "I  guess  not."  It  had  been  my  be 
lief  that  a  man  with  money  in  his  pocket  could  not  starve 
in  any  country  soi-disant  civilized.  I  chewed  the  cud  of 
fancy  faute  de  mieux,  and  became  the  centre  of  attraction  to 
citizens,  from  whose  conversation  I  learned  that  this  was 
"Jeff.  Davis's  fast-day."  Observed  one,  "  It  quite  puts  me  in 
mind  of  Sunday  ;  all  the  stores  closed."  Said  another, 
"  We'll  soon  have  Sunday  every  day,  then,  for  I  'spect  it 
won't  be  worth  while  for  most  shops  to  keep  open  any 
longer."  Natchez,  a  place  of  much  trade  and  cotton  export 
in  the  season,  is  now  as  dull  —  let  us  say,  as  Harwich  without 
a  regatta.  But  it  is  ultra-secessionist,  nil  obstante. 

My  hunger  was  assuaged  by  Mr.  Marshall,  who  drove  me 
to  his  comfortable  mansion  through  a  country  like  the  wooded 
parts  of  Sussex,  abounding  in  fine  trees,  and  in  the  only  lawns 
and  park-like  fields  I  have  yet  seen  in  America. 

After  dinner,  my  host  took  me  out  to  visit  a  wealthy  plant 
er,  who  has  raised  and  armed  a  cavalry  corps  at  his  own 
expense.  We  were  obliged  to  get  out  of  the  carriage  at 
a  narrow  lane  and  walk  toward  the  encampment  on  foot  in  the 
dark ;  a  sentry  stopped  us,  and  we  observed  that  there  was  a 
semblance  of  military  method  in  the  camp.  The  captain  was 
walking  up  and  down  in  the  veranda  of  the  poor  hut,  for 
which  he  had  abandoned  his  home.  A  book  of  tactics  —  Har- 


292  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

dee's  —  lay  on  the  table  of  his  little  room.  Our  friend  was 
full  of  fight,  and  said  he  would  give  all  he  had  in  the  world  to 
the  cause.  But  the  day  before,  and  a  party  of  horse,  com 
posed  of  sixty  gentlemen  in  the  district,  worth  from  £20,000 
to  £50,000  each,  had  started  for  the  war  in  Virginia.  Every 
thing  to  be  seen  or  heard  testifies  to  the  great  zeal  and  resolu 
tion  with  which  the  South  have  entered  upon  the  quarrel. 
But  they  hold  the  power  of  the  United  States,  and  the  loyalty 
of  the  North  to  the  Union  at  far  too  cheap  a  rate. 

Next  day  was  passed  in  a  delightful  drive  through  cotton 
fields,  Indian  corn,  and  undulating  woodlands,  amid  which  were 
some  charming  residences.  I  crossed  the  river  at  Natchez, 
and  saw  one  fine  plantation,  in  which  the  corn,  however,  was 
by  no  means  so  good  as  the  crops  I  have  seen  on  the  coast. 
The  cotton  looks  well,  and  some  had  already  burst  into  flower 
—  bloom,  as  it  is  called —  which  has  turned  to  a  flagrant  pink, 
and  seems  saucily  conscious  that  its  boll  will  play  an  important 
part  in  the  world. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  tracts  on  the  banks  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  on  the  inland  regions  hereabout,  ought  to  be,  in  the 
natural  order  of  things,  a  people  almost  nomadic,  living  by 
the  chase,  and  by  a  sparse  agriculture,  in  the  freedom  which 
tempted  their  ancestors  to  leave  Europe.  But  the  Old  World 
has  been  working  for  them.  All  its  trials  have  been  theirs ; 
the  fruits  of  its  experience,  its  labors,  its  research,  its  discov 
eries,  are  theirs.  Steam  has  enabled  them  to  turn  their  rivers 
into  highways,  to  open  primeval  forests  to  the  light  of  day  and 
to  man.  All  these,  however,  would  have  availed  them  little 
had  not  the  demands  of  manufacture  abroad,  and  the  increas 
ing  luxury  and  population  of  the  North  and  West  at  home, 
enabled  them  to  find  in  these  swamps  and  uplands  sources  of 
wealth  richer  and  more  certain  than  all  the  gold  mines  of  the 
world. 

There  must  be  gnomes  to  work  those  mines.  Slavery  was 
an  institution  ready  to  their  hands.  In  its  development  there 
lay  every  material  means  for  securing  the  prosperity  which 
Manchester  opened  to  them,  and  in  supplying  their  own  coun 
trymen  with  sugar.  The  small,  struggling,  deeply-mortgaged 
proprietors  of  swamp  and  forest  set  their  negroes  to  work  to 
raise  levees,  to  cut  down  trees,  to  plant  and  sow.  Cotton  at 
ten  cents  a  pound  gave  a  nugget  in  every  boll.  Land  could 
be  had  for  a  few  dollars  an  acre.  Negroes  were  cheap  in  pro 
portion.  Men  who  made  a  few  thousand  dollars  invested  them 


DANGERS   OF  THE  FUTURE.  293 

in  more  negroes,  and  more  land,  and  borrowed  as  much  again 
for  the  same  purpose.  They  waxed  fat  and  rich  —  there 
seemed  no  bounds  to  their  fortune. 

But  threatening  voices  came  from  the  North  —  the  echoes 
of  the  sentiments  of  the  civilized  world  repenting  of  its  evil 
pierced  their  ears,  and  they  found  their  feet  were  of  clay,  and 
that  they  were  nodding  to  their  fall  in  the  midst  of  their 
power.  Ruin  inevitable  awaited  them  if  they  did  not  shut  out 
these  sounds  and  stop  the  fatal  utterances. 

The  issue  is  to  them  one  of  life  and  death.  Whoever  raises 
it  hereafter,  if  it  be  not  decided  now,  must  expect  to  meet  the 
deadly  animosity  which  is  now  displayed  towards  the  North. 
The  success  of  the  South  —  if  they  can  succeed  —  must  lead 
to  complications  and  results  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  for 
which  neither  they  nor  Europe  are  prepared.  Of  one 'thing 
there  can  be  no  doubt  —  a  slave  state  cannot  long  exist  without 
a  slave  trade.  The  poor  whites  who  have  won  the  fight  will 
demand  their  share  of  the  spoils.  The  land  for  tilth  is  abund 
ant,  and  all  that  is  wanted  to  give  them  fortunes  is  a  supply  of 
slaves.  They  will  have  that  in  spite  of  their  masters,  unless 
a  stronger  power  than  the  Slave  States  prevents  the  accom 
plishment  of  their  wishes. 

The  gentleman  in  whose  house  I  was  stopping  was  not  in 
sensible  to  the  dangers  of  the  future,  and  would,  I  think,  like 
many  others,  not  at  all  regret  to  find  himself  and  property  safe 
in  England.  His  father,  the  very  day  of  our  arrival,  had  pro 
ceeded  to  Canada  with  his  daughters,  but  the  Confederate 
authorities  are  now  determined  to  confiscate  all  property  be 
longing  to  persons  who  endeavor  to  evade  the  responsibilities 
of  patriotism.  In  such  matters  the  pressure  of  the  majority  is 
irresistible,  and  a  sort  of  mob  law  supplants  any  remissness  on 
the  part  of  the  authorities.  In  the  South,  where  the  deeds  of 
the  land  of  cypress  and  myrtle  are  exaggerated  by  passion, 
this  power  will  be  exercised  very  rigorously.  The  very  lan 
guage  of  the  people  is  full  of  the  excesses  generally  accepted 
as  types  of  Americanism.  Turning  over  a  newspaper  this 
morning,  I  came  upon  a  "  card"  as  it  is  called,  signed  by  one 
"  Mr.  Bonner,"  relating  to  a  dispute  between  himself  and  an 
Assistant-Quarter-Master-General,  about  the  carriage  of  some 
wood  at  Mobile,  which  concludes  with  the  sentence  that  I 
transcribe,  as  an  evidence  of  the  style  which  is  tolerated,  if 
not  admired,  down  South :  — 


294  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

"  If  such  a  Shylock-hearted,  caitiff  scoundrel  does  exist, 
give  me  the  evidence,  and  I  will  drag  him  before  the  bar  of 
public  opinion,  and  consign  him  to  an  infamy  so  deep  and 
damnable  that  the  hand  of  the  Resurrection  will  never  reach 
him." 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Down  the  Mississippi  —  Hotel  at  Vicksburg  —  Dinner  —  Public  meet 
ing  —  News  of  the  progress  of  the  war  —  Slavery  and  England 
—  Jackson  —  Governor  Pettus  —  Insecurity  of  life  —  Strong 
Southern  enthusiasm  —  Troops  bound  for  the  North  —  Approach 
to  Memphis  —  Slaves  for  sale  —  Memphis  —  General  Pillow. 

Friday,  June  14^.  —  Last  night  with  my  good  host  from 
liis  plantation  to  the  great  two-storied  steamer  General  Quit- 
man,  at  Natchez.  She  was  crowded  with  planters,  soldiers 
and  their  families,  and  as  the  lights  shone  out  of  her  windows, 
looked  like  a  walled  castle  blazing  from  double  lines  of  em 
brasures. 

The  Mississippi  is  assuredly  the  most  uninteresting  river  in 
the  world,  and  I  can  only  describe  it  hereabout  by  referring 
to  the  account  of  its  appearance  which  I  have  already  given 
—  not  a  particle  of  romance,  in  spite  of  oratorical  patriots  and 
prophets,  can  ever  shine  from  its  depths,  sacred  to  cat  and 
buffalo  fish,  or  vivify  its  turbid  waters. 

Before  noon  we  were  in  sight  of  Vicksburg,  which  is  sit 
uated  on  a  high  bank  or  bluff  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river, 
about  400  miles  above  New  Orleans  and  some  120  miles  from 
Natchez. 

Mr.  MacMeekan,  the  proprietor  of  the  "  Washington,"  de 
clares  himself  to  have  been  the  pioneer  of  hotels  in  the  far 
west ;  but  he  has  now  built  himself  this  huge  caravansary, 
and  rests  from  his  wanderings.  We  entered  the  dining  saloon, 
and  found  the  tables  closely  packed  with  a  numerous  company 
of  every  condition  in  life,  from  generals  and  planters  down  to 
soldiers  in  the  uniform  of  privates.  At  the  end  of  the  room 
there  was  a  long  table  on  which  the  joints  and  dishes  were 
brought  hot  from  the  kitchen  to  be  carved  by  the  negro 
waiters,  male  and  female,  and  as  each  was  brought  in  the 
proprietor,  standing  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  shouted  out 
with  a  loud  voice,  "  Now,  then,  here  is  a  splendid  goose ! 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  don't  neglect  the  goose  and  apple-sauce ! 


296  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Here's  a  piece  of  beef  that  /can  recommend!  upon  my  honor 
you  will  never  regret  taking  a  slice  of  the  beef.  Oyster-pie ! 
oyster-pie  !  never  was  better  oyster-pie  seen  in  Vicksburg. 
Run  about,  boys,  and  take  orders.  Ladies  and  gentlemen, 
just  look  at  that  turkey!  who's  for  turkey?"  —  and  so  on, 
wiping  the  perspiration  from  his  forehead  and  combating  with 
the  flies. 

Altogether  it  was  a  semi-barbarous  scene,  but  the  host  was 
active  and  attentive ;  and  after  all,  his  recommendations  were 
very  much  like  those  which  it  was  the  habit  of  the  taverners 
in  old  London  to  call  out  in  the  streets  to  the  passers-by  when 
the  joints  were  ready.  The  little  negroes  who  ran  about  to 
take  orders  were  smart,  but  now  and  then  came  into  violent 
collision,  and  were  cuffed  incontinently.  One  mild-looking 
little  fellow  stood  by  my  chair  and  appeared  so  sad  that  I 
asked  him  "  Are  you  happy,  my  boy  ? "  He  looked  quite 
frightened.  "  Why  don't  you  answer  me  ?  "  "  I'se  afeered, 
sir  ;  I  can't  tell  that  to  Massa."  "  Is  not  your  master  kind  to 
you  ?  "  "  Massa  very  kind  man,  sir ;  very  good  man  when 
he  is  not  angry  with  me,"  and  his  eyes  lilled  with  tears  to  the 
brim. 

The  war  fever  is  rife  in  Vicksburg,  and  the  Irish  and  Ger 
man  laborers,  to  the  extent  of  several  hundreds,  have  all  gone 
off  to  the  war. 

When  dinner  was  over,  the  mayor  and  several  gentlemen 
of  the  city  were  good  enough  to  request  that  I  would  attend 
a  meeting  at  a  room  in  the  railway-station,  where  some  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town  had  assembled.  Accordingly  I  went 
to  the  terminus  and  found  a  room  filled  with  gentlemen. 
Large  china  bowls,  blocks  of  ice,  bottles  of  wine  and  spirits, 
and  boxes  of  cigars  were  on  the  table,  and  all  the  materials 
for  a  symposium. 

The  company  discussed  recent  events,  some  of  which  I 
learned  for  the  first  time.  Dislike  was  expressed  to  the 
course  of  the  authorities  in  demanding  negro  labor  for  the 
fortifications  along  the  river,  and  uneasiness  was  expressed 
respecting  a  negro  plot  in  Arkansas  ;  but  the  most  interesting 
matter  was  Judge  Taney's  protest  against  the  legality  of  the 
President's  course  in  suspending  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in 
the  case  of  Merriman.  The  lawyers  who  were  present  at  this 
meeting  were  delighted  with  his  argument,  which  insists  that 
Congress  alone  can  suspend  the  writ,  and  that  the  President 
cannot  legally  do  so. 


THE  CAPITAL  OF  MISSISSIPPI.  297 

The  news  of  the  defeat  of  an  expedition  from  Fortress 
Monroe  against  a  Confederate  post  at  Great  Bethel,  has 
caused  great  rejoicing.  The  accounts  show  that  there  was  the 
grossest  mismanagement  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  officers. 
The  Northern  papers  particularly  regret  the  loss  of  Major 
"VVinthrop,  aide-de-camp  to  General  Butler,  a  writer  of  prom 
ise.  At  four  o'clock,  p.  M.,  I  bade  the  company  farewell,  and 
the  train  started  for  Jackson.  The  line  runs  through  a  poor 
clay  country,  cut  up  with  gulleys  and  watercourses  made  by 
violent  rain. 

There  were  a  number  of  volunteer  soldiers  in  the  train  ; 
and  their  presence  no  doubt  attracted  the  girls  and  women 
who  waved  flags  and  cheered  for  Jeff  Davis  and  States'  Rights. 
Well,  as  I  travel  on  through  such  scenes,  with  a  fine  critical 
nose  in  the  air,  I  ask  myself,  "  Is  any  Englishman  better  than 
these  publicans  and  sinners  in  regard  to  this  question  of 
slavery?-"  It  was  not  on  moral  or  religious  grounds  that  our 
ancestors  abolished  serfdom.  And  if  to-morrow  our  good 
farmers,  deprived  of  mowers,  reapers,  ploughmen,  hedgers 
and  ditchers,  were  to  find  substitutes  in  certain  people  of  a 
dark  skin  assigned  to  their  use  by  Act  of  Parliament,  I  fear 
they  would  be  almost  as  ingenious  as  the  Rev.  Dr.  Seabury  in 
discovering  arguments  physiological,  ethnological,  and  biblical, 
for  the  retention  of  their  property.  And  an  evil  day  would  it 
be  for  them  if  they  were  so  tempted ;  for  assuredly,  without 
any  derogation  to  the  intellect  of  the  Southern  men,  it  may 
be  said  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  population  is  in  a  state 
of  very  great  moral  degradation  compared  with  civilized  An 
glo-Saxon  communities. 

The  man  is  more  natural,  and  more  reckless ;  he  has  more 
of  the  qualities  of  the  Arab  than  are  to  be  reconciled  with 
civilization ;  and  it  is  only  among  the  upper  classes  that  the 
influences  of  the  aristocratic  condition  which  is  generated  by 
the  subjection  of  masses  of  men  to  their  fellow-man  are  to  be 
found. 

At  six  o'clock,  the  train  stopped  in  the  country  at  a  railway 
crossing  by  the  side  of  a  large  platform.  On  the  right  was  a 
common,  bounded  by  a  few  detached  wooden  houses,  separated 
by  palings  from  each  other,  and  surrounded  by  rows  of  trees. 
In  front  of  the  station  were  two  long  wooden  sheds,  which,  as 
the  signboard  indicates,  were  exchanges  or  drinking  saloons  ; 
and  beyond  these  again  were  visible  some  rudimentary  streets 
of  straggling  houses,  above  which  rose  three  pretentious  spires 
13* 


298  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

and  domes,  resolved  into  insignificance  by  nearer  approach. 
This"  was  Jackson. 

Our  host  was  at  the  station  in  his  carriage,  and  drove  us  to 
his  residence,  which  consisted  of  some  detached  houses  shaded 
by  trees  in  a  small  enclosure,  and  bounded  by  a  kitchen  gar 
den.  He  was  one  of  the  men  who  had  been  filled  with  the 
afflatus  of  1848,  and  joined  the  Young  Ireland  party  before  it 
had  seriously  committed  itself  to  an  unfortunate  outbreak  ; 
and  when  all  hope  of  success  had  vanished,  he  sought,  like 
many  others  of  his  countrymen,  a  shelter  under  the  stars  and 
stripes,  which,  like  most  of  the  Irish  settled  in  the  Southern 
States,  he  was  now  bent  on  tearing  asunder.  He  has  the 
honor  of  being  mayor  of  Jackson,  and  of  enjoying  a  competi 
tive  examination  with  his  medical  rivals  for  the  honor  of  at 
tending  the  citizens. 

In  the  evening  I  walked  out  with  him  to  the  adjacent  city, 
which  has  no  title  to  the  name,  except  as  being  the  State  capi 
tal.  The  mushroom  growth  of  these  States,  using  that  phrase 
merely  as  to  their  rapid  development,  raises  hamlets  in  a 
small  space  to  the  dignity  of  cities.  It  is  in  such  outlying  ex 
pansion  of  the  great  republic  that  the  influence  of  the  foreign 
emigration  is  most  forcibly  displayed.  It  would  be  curious  to 
inquire,  for  example,  how  many  men  there  are  in  the  city  of 
Jackson  exercising  mechanical  arts  or  engaged  in  small  com 
merce,  in  skilled  or  manual  labor,  who  are  really  Americans 
in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word.  I  was  struck  by  the  names 
over  the  doors  of  the  shops,  which  were  German,  Irish,  Italian, 
French,  and  by  foreign  tongues  and  accents  in  the  streets  ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  native-born  American  who  obtains 
the  highest  political  stations  and  arrogates  to  himself  the  larg 
est  share  of  governmental  emoluments. 

Jackson  proper  consists  of  strings  of  wooden  houses,  with 
white  porticoes  and  pillars  a  world  too  wide  for  their  shrunk 
rooms,  and  various  religious  and  other  public  edifices,  of  the 
hydrocephalic  order  of  architecture,  where  vulgar  cupola  and 
exaggerated  steeple  tower  above  little  bodies  far  too  feeble  to 
support  them.  There  are  of  course  a  monster  hotel  and  blaz 
ing  bar-rooms  —  the  former  celebrated  as  the  scene  of  many  a 
serious  difficulty,  out  of  some  of  which  the  participators  never 
escaped  alive.  The  streets  consist  of  rows  of  houses  such  as 
I  have  seen  at  Macon,  Montgomery,  and  Baton  Rouge ;  and  as 
we  walked  towards  the  capital  or  State-house  there  were  many 
more  invitations  "  to  take  a  drink  "  addressed  to  my  friend  and 


GOVERNOR  PETTUS.  299 

me  than  we  were  able  to  comply  with.  Our  steps  were  bent 
to  the  State-house,  which  is  a  pile  of  stone,  with  open  colon 
nades,  and  an  air  of  importance  at  a  distance  which  a  nearer 
examination  of  its  dilapidated  condition  does  riot  confirm.  Mr. 
Pettus,  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  Mississippi,  was  in  the 
Capitol ;  and  on  sending  in  our  cards,  we  were  introduced  to  his 
room,  which  certainly  was  of  more  than  republican  simplicity. 
The  apartment  was  surrounded  with  some  common  glass  cases, 
containing  papers  and  old  volumes  of  books  ;  the  furniture,  a 
table  or  desk,  and  a  few  chairs  and  a  ragged  carpet ;  the  glass 
in  the  windows  cracked  and  broken  ;  the  walls  and  ceiling  dis 
colored  by  mildew. 

The  Governor  is  a  silent  man,  of  abrupt  speech,  but  easy  of 
access  ;  and,  indeed,  whilst  we  were  speaking,  strangers  and 
soldiers  walked  in  and  out  of  his  room,  looked  around  them, 
and  acted  in  all  respects  as  if  they  were  in  a  public-house,  ex 
cept  in  ordering  drinks.  This  grim,  tall,  angular  man  seemed 
to  me  such  a  development  of  public  institutions  in  the  South  as 
Mr.  Seward  was  in  a  higher  phase  in  the  North.  For  years 
he  hunted  deer  and  trapped  in  the  forest  of  the  far  west,  and 
lived  in  a  Natty  Bumpo  or  David  Crocket  state  of  life  ;  and  he 
was  not  ashamed  of  the  fact  when  taunted  with  it  during  his 
election  contest,  but  very  rightly  made  the  most  of  his  inde 
pendence  and  his  hard  work. 

The  pecuniary  honors  of  his  position  are  not  very  great  as 
Governor  of  the  enormous  State  of  Mississippi.  He  has  sim 
ply  an  income  of  £800  a  year  and  a  house  provided  for  his 
use;  he  is  not  only  quite  contented  with  what  he  has  but  be 
lieves  that  the  society  in  which  he  lives  is  the  highest  develop 
ment  of  civilized  life,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  there  are 
more  outrages  on  the  person  in  his  State,  nay,  more  murders 
perpetrated  in  the  very  capital,  than  were  known  in  the  worst 
days  of  mediaeval  Venice  or  Florence ;  —  indeed,  as  a  citizen 
said  to  me,  "  Well,  I  think  our  average  in  Jackson  is  a  murder 
a  month ; "  but  he  used  a  milder  name  for  the  crime. 

The  Governor  conversed  on  the  aspect  of  affairs,  and  evinced 
that  wonderful  confidence  in  his  own  people  which,  whether  it 
arises  from  ignorance  of  the  power  of  the  North,  or  a  convic 
tion  of  greater  resources,  is  to  me  so  remarkable.  "  Well,  sir," 
said  he,  dropping  a  portentous  plug  of  tobacco  just  outside  the 
spittoon,  with  the  air  of  a  man  who  wished  to  show  he  could 
have  hit  the  centre  if  he  liked,  "  England  is  no  doubt  a  great 
country,  and  has  got  fleets  and  the  like  of  that,  and  may  have 


300  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

a  good  deal  to  do  in  TLu-rope  ;  but  the  sovereign  State  of  Mis 
sissippi  can  do  a  great  deal  better  without  England  than  Eng 
land  can  do  without  her."  Having  some  slight  recollection  of 
Mississippi  repudiation,  in  which  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  was  so 
actively  engaged,  I  thought  it  possible  that  the  Governor  might 
be  right ;  and  after  a  time  his  Excellency  shook  me  by  the 
hand,  and  I  left,  much  wondering  within  myself  what  manner 
of  men  they  must  be  in  the  State  of  Mississippi  when  Mr. 
Pettus  is  their  chosen  Governor ;  and  yet,  after  all,  he  is  hon 
est  and  fierce ;  and  perhaps  he  is  so  far  qualified  as  well  as 
any  other  man  to  be  Governor  of  the  State.  There  are  news 
papers,  electric  telegraphs,  and  railways ;  there  are  many  edu 
cated  families,  even  much  good  society,  I  am  told,  in  the  State  ; 
but  the  larger  masses  of  the  people  struck  me  as  being  in  a 
condition  not  much  elevated  from  that  of  the  original  back 
woodsman.  On  my  return  to  the  Doctor's  house  I  found  some 
letters  which  had  been  forwarded  to  me  from  New  Orleans 
had  gone  astray,  and  I  was  obliged,  therefore,  to  make  arrange 
ments  for  my  departure  on  the  following  evening. 

June  1  Qth.  —  I  was  compelled  to  send  my  excuses  to  Gov 
ernor  Pettus,  and  remained  quietly  within  the  house  of  my 
host,  entreating  him  to  protect  me  from  visitors  and  especially 
my  own  confreres,  that  I  might  secure  a  few  hours  even  in 
that  ardent  heat  to  write  letters  to  home.  Now,  there  is  some 
self-denial  required,  if  one  be  at  all  solicitous  of  the  popularis 
aura,  to  offend  the  susceptibilities  of  the  irritable  genus  in 
America.  It  may  make  all  the  difference  between  millions  of 
people  hearing  and  believing  you  are  a  high-toned,  whole 
souled  gentleman  or  a  wretched,  ignorant  and  prejudiced  John 
Bull ;  but,  nevertheless,  the  solid  pudding  of  self-content  and 
the  satisfaction  of  doing  one's  work  are  preferable  to  the  praise 
even  of  a  New  York  newspaper  editor. 

When  my  work  was  over  I  walked  out  and  sat  in  the  shade 
with  a  gentleman  whose  talk  turned  upon  the  practices  of  the 
Mississippi  duello.  Without  the  smallest  animus,  and  in  the 
most  natural  way  in  the  world,  he  told  us  tale  after  tale  of 
blood,  and  recounted  terrible  tragedies  enacted  outside  bars  of 
hotels  and  in  the  public  streets  close  beside  us.  The  very  air 
seemed  to  become  purple  as  he  spoke,  the  land  around  a  veri 
table  "  Aceldama."  There  may,  indeed,  be  security  for  prop 
erty,  but  there  is  none  for  the  life  of  its  owner  in  difficulties, 
who  may  be  shot  by  a  stray  bullet  from  a  pistol  as  he  walks 
up  the  street. 


TO   GENTLEMEN  IN   DIFFICULTIES.  301 

I  learned  many  valuable  facts.  I  was  warned,  for  example, 
against  the  impolicy  of  trusting  to  small-bored  pistols  or  to 
pocket  six-shooters  in  case  of  a  close  fight,  because  suppose 
you  hit  your  man  mortally  he  may  still  run  in  upon  you  and 
rip  you  up  with  a  bowie-knife  before  he  falls  dead  ;  whereas 
if  you  drive  a  good  heavy  bullet  into  him,  or  make  a  hole  in 
him  with  a  "  Derringer "  ball,  he  gets  faintish  and  drops  at 
once. 

Many  illustrations,  too,  were  given  of  the  value  of  practical 
lessons  of  this  sort.  One  particularly  struck  me.  If  a  gen 
tleman  with  whom  you  are  engaged  in  altercation  moves  his 
hand  towards  his  breeches  pocket,  or  behind  his  back,  you 
must  smash  him  or  shoot  him  at  once,  for  he  is  either  going  to 
draw  his  six-shooter,  to  pull  out  a  bowie-knife,  or  to  shoot  you 
through  the  lining  of  his  pocket.  The  latter  practice  is  con 
sidered  rather  ungentlemanly,  but  it  has  somewhat  been  more 
honored  lately  in  the  observance  than  in  the  breach.  In  fact, 
the  savage  practice  of  walking  about  with  pistols,  knives,  and 
poniards,  in  bar-rooms  and  gambling-saloons,  with  passions  un- 
governed,  because  there  is  no  law  to  punish  the  deeds  to 
which  they  lead,  affords  facilities  for  crime  which  an  uncivi 
lized  condition  of  society  leaves  too  often  without  punishment, 
but  which  must  be  put  down  or  the  country  in  which  it  is  tol 
erated  will  become  as  barbarous  as  a  jungle  inhabited  by  wild 
beasts. 

Our  host  gave  me  an  early  dinner,  at  which  I  met  some  of 
the  citizens  of  Jackson,  and  at  six  o'clock  I  proceeded  by  the 
train  for  Memphis.  The  carriages  were,  of  course,  full  of 
soldiers  or  volunteers,  bound  for  a  large  camp  at  a  place  called 
Corinth,  who  made  night  hideous  by  their  song  and  cries,  stim 
ulated  by  enormous  draughts  of  whiskey  and  a  proportionate 
consumption  of  tobacco,  by  teeth  and  by  fire.  The  heat  in 
the  carriages  added  to  the  discomforts  arising  from  these 
causes,  and  from  great  quantities  of  biting  insects  in  the  sleep 
ing  places.  The  people  have  all  the  air  and  manners  of  set 
tlers.  Altogether  the  impression  produced  on  my  mind  was 
by  no  means  agreeable,  and  I  felt  as  if  I  was  indeed  in  the 
land  of  Lynch-law  and  bowie-knives,  where  the  passions  of 
men  have  not  yet  been  subordinated  to  the  influence  of  the 
tribunals  of  justice.  Much  of  this  feeling  has  no  doubt  been 
produced  by  the  tales  to  which  I  have  been  listening  around 
me  —  most  of  which  have  a  smack  of  manslaughter  about 
them. 


302  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

June  17th.  —  If  it  was  any  consolation  to  me  that  the  very 
noisy  and  very  turbulent  warriors  of  last  night  were  exceed 
ingly  sick,  dejected,  and  crestfallen  this  morning,  I  had  it  to 
the  full.  Their  cries  for  water  were  incessant  to  allay  the  in 
ternal  fires  caused  by  "  forty-rod  "  and  "  sixty-rod,"  as  whiskey 
is  called,  which  is  supposed  to  kill  people  at  those  distances. 
Their  officers  had  no  control  over  them  —  and  the  only  au 
thority  they  seemed  to  respect  was  that  of  the  "  gentlemanly  " 
conductor,  whom  they  were  accustomed  to  fear  individually, 
as  he  is  a  great  man  in  America  and  has  much  authority  and 
power  to  make  himself  disagreeable  if  he  likes. 

The  victory  at  Big  or  Little  Bethel  has  greatly  elated  these 
men,  and  they  think  they  can  walk  all  over  the  Northern 
States.  It  was  a  relief  to  get  out  of  the  train  for  a  few  min 
utes  at  a  station  called  Holly  Springs,  where  the  passengers 
breakfasted  at  a  dirty  table  on  most  execrable  coffee,  corn 
bread,  rancid  butter,  and  very  dubious  meats,  and  the  wild 
soldiers  outside  made  the  most  of  their  time,  as  they  had 
recovered  from  their  temporary  depression  by  this  time,  and 
got  out  on  the  tops  of  the  carriages,  over  which  they  performed 
tumultuous  dances  to  the  music  of  their  band,  and  the  great 
admiration  of  the  surrounding  negrodom.  Their  demeanor  is 
very  unlike  that  of  the  unexcitable  staid  people  of  the  North. 

There  were  in  the  train  some  Texans  who  were  going  to 
Richmond  to  offer  their  services  to  Mr.  Davis.  They  de 
nounced  Sam  Houston  as  a  traitor,  but  admitted  there  were 
some  Unionists,  or  as  they  termed  them,  Lincolnite  skunks,  in 
the  State.  The  real  object  of  their  journey  was,  in  my  mind, 
to  get  assistance  from  the  Southern  Confederacy,  to  put  down 
their  enemies  in  Texas. 

In  order  to  conceal  from  the  minds  of  the  people  that  the 
government  at  Washington  claims  to  be  that  of  the  United 
States,  the  press  politicians  and  speakers  divert  their  attention 
to  the  names  of  Lincoln,  Seward,  and  other  black  republicans, 
and  class  the  whole  of  the  North  together  as  the  Abolitionists. 
They  call  the  Federal  levies  "  Lincoln's  mercenaries "  and 
"abolition  hordes,"  though  their  own  troops  are  paid  at  the 
same  rate  as  those  of  the  United  States,  This  is  a  common 
mode  of  procedure  in  revolutions  and  rebellions,  and  is  not 
unfrequent  in  wars. 

The  enthusiasm  for  the  Southern  cause  among  all  the  people 
is  most  remarkable,  —  the  sight  of  the  flag  waving  from  the 
carriage  windows  drew  all  the  population  of  the  hamlets  and 


WAYSIDE  PARADE.  303 

the  workers  in  the  field,  black  and  white,  to  the  side  of  the 
carriages  to  cheer  for  Jeff  Davis  and  the  Southern  Confeder 
acy,  and  to  wave  whatever  they  could  lay  hold  of  in  the  air. 
The  country  seems  very  poorly  cultivated,  the  fields  full  of 
stumps  of  trees,  and  the  plantation  houses  very  indifferent. 
At  every  station  more  "  soldiers,"  as  they  are  called,  got  in, 
till  the  smell  and  heat  were  suffocating. 

These  men  were  as  fanciful  in  their  names  and  dress  as 
could  be.  In  the  train  which  preceded  us  there  was  a  band 
of  volunteers  armed  with  rifled  pistols  and  enormous  bowie- 
knifes,  who  called  themselves  "  The  Toothpick  Company." 
They  carried  along  with  them  a  coffin,  with  a  plate  inscribed, 

"  Abe  Lincoln,  died ,"  and  declared  they  were  "  bound  " 

to  bring  his  body  back  in  it,  and  that  they  did  not  intend  to 
use  muskets  or  rifles,  but  just  go  in  with  knife  and  six-shooter, 
and  whip  the  Yankees  straight  away.  How  astonished  they 
will  be  when  the  first  round  shot  flies  into  them,  or  a  cap-full 
of  grape  rattles  about  their  bowie-knives. 

At  the  station  of  Grand  Junction,  north  of  Holly  Springs, 
which  latter  is  210  miles  north  of  Jackson,  several  hundreds 
of  our  warrior  friends  were  turned  out  in  order  to  take  the 
train  north-westward  for  Richmond,  Virginia.  The  1st  Com 
pany,  seventy  rank  and  file,  consisted  of  Irishmen,  armed  with 
sporting  rifles  without  bayonets.  Five  sixths  of  the  2d 
Company,  who  were  armed  with  muskets,  were  of  the  same 
nationality.  The  3d  Company  were  all  Americans.  The 
4th  Company  were  almost  all  Irish.  Some  were  in  green, 
others  were  in  gray,  —  the  Americans  who  were  in  blue  had  not 
yet  received  their  arms.  When  the  word  fix  bayonets  was 
given  by  the  officer,  a  smart  keen-looking  man,  there  was  an 
astonishishing  hurry  and  tumult  in  the  ranks. 

"  Now  then,  Sweeny,  whar  are  yes  dhriven  me  too  ?  Is  it 
out  of  the  redjmint  amongst  the  officers  yer  shovin'  me?  " 

"  Sullivan,  don't  ye  hear  we're  to  fix  beenits  ?  " 

"  Sarjent,  jewel,  wud  yes  ayse  the  shtrap  of  me  baynit  ?  " 

"  If  ye  prod  me  wid  that  agin,  I'll  let  dayloite  into  ye." 

The  officer,  reading,  "  No.  23.     James  Pnelan." 

No  reply. 

Officer  again,  "  No.  23.     James  Phelan." 

Voice  from  the  rank,  "  Shu  re,  captain,  and  faix  Phelan's 
gone  ;  he  wint  at  the  last  depot." 

"  No.  40.     Miles  Corrigan." 

Voice  further  on,  "  He's  the  worse  for  dhrink  in  the  cars, 


304  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

yer  honor,  and  says  he'll  shoot  us  if  we  touch  him ; "  and 
so  on. 

But  these  fellows  were,  nevertheless,  the  material  for 
fighting  and  for  marching  after  proper  drill  and  with  good 
officers,  even  though  there  was  too  large  a  proportion  of  old 
men  and  young  lads  in  the  ranks.  To  judge  from  their  dress 
these  recruits  came  from  the  laboring  and  poorest  classes  of 
whites.  The  officers  affected  a  French  cut  and  bearing  with 
indifferent  success,  and  in  the  luggage  vans  there  were  three 
foolish  young  women  with  slop-dress  imitation  clothes  of  the 
Vivandiere  type,  who,  with  dishevelled  hair,  dirty  faces,  and 
dusty  hats  and  jackets,  looked  sad,  sorry,  and  absurd.  Their 
notions  of  propriety  did  not  justify  them  in  adopting  straps, 
boots,  and  trousers,  and  the  rest  of  the  tawdry  ill-made  costume 
looked  very  bad  indeed. 

The  train  which  still  bore  a  large  number  of  soldiers  for  the 
camp  of  Corinth,  proceeded  through  dreary  swamps,  stunted  for 
ests,  and  clearings  of  the  rudest  kind  at  very  long  intervals.  We 
had  got  out  of  the  cotton  district  and  were  entering  poorer  soil, 
or  land  which,  when  cleared,  was  devoted  to  wheat  and  corn, 
and  I  was  told  that  the  crops  ran  from  forty  to  sixty  bushels 
to  the  acre.  A  more  uninteresting  country  than  this  portion 
of  the  State  of  Mississippi  I  have  never  witnessed.  There 
was  some  variety  of  scenery  about  Holly  Springs  where 
undulating  ground  covered  with  wood,  diversified  the  aspect  of 
the  flat,  but  since  that  we  have  been  travelling  through  mile 
after  mile  of  insignificantly  grown  timber  and  swamps. 

On  approaching  Memphis  the  line  ascends  towards  the 
bluff  of  the  Mississippi,  and  farms  of  a  better  appearance 
come  in  sight  on  the  side  of  the  rail ;  but  after  all  I  do  not 
envy  the  fate  of  the  man  who,  surrounded  by  slaves  and  shut 
out  from  the  world,  has  to  pass  his  life  in  this  dismal  region, 
be  the  crops  never  so  good. 

At  a  station  where  a  stone  pillar  marks  the  limit  between 
the  sovereign  State  of  Mississippi  and  that  of  Tennessee, 
there  was  a  house  two  stories  high,  from  the  windows  of 
which  a  number  of  negro  girls  and  young  men  were  staring 
on  the  passengers.  Some  of  them  smiled,  laughed,  and  chat 
ted,  but  the  majority  of  them  looked  gloomy  and  sad  enough. 
They  were  packed  as  close  as  they  could,  and  I  observed  that 
at  the  door  a  very  ruffianly  looking  fellow  in  a  straw  hat,  long 
straight  hair,  flannel  shirt,  and  slippers,  was  standing  with  his 
legs  across  and  a  heavy  whip  in  his  hand.  One  of  the  pas- 


MEMPHIS.  305 

sengers  walked  over  and  chatted  to  him.  They  looked  in 
and  up  at  the  negroes  and  laughed,  and  when  the  man  came 
near  the  carriage  in  which  I  sat,  a  friend  called  out,  "  Whose 
are  they,  Sam  ? "  "  He's  a  dealer  at  Jackson,  Mr.  Smith. 
They're  a  prime  lot  of  fine  Virginny  niggers  as  I've  seen  this 
long  time,  and  he  wants  to  realize,  for  the  news  looks  so 
bad." 

It  was  1/40  P.  M.  when  the  train  arrived  at  Memphis.  I 
was  speedily  on  my  way  to  the  Gayoso  House,  so  called  after 
an  old  Spanish  ruler  of  the  district,  which  is  situated  in  the 
street  on  the  bluff,  which  runs  parallel  with  the  course  of  the 
Mississippi.  This  resuscitated  Egyptian  city  is  a  place  of  im 
portance,  and  extends  for  several  miles  along  the  high  bank 
of  the  river,  though  it  does  not  run  very  far  back.  The 
streets  are  at  right  angles  to  the  principal  thoroughfares, 
which  are  parallel  to  the  stream  ;  and  I  by  no  means  ex 
pected  to  see  the  lofty  stores,  warehouses,  rows  of  shops,  and 
handsome  buildings  on  the  broad  esplanade  along  the  river, 
and  the  extent  and  size  of  the  edifices  public  and  private  in 
this  city,  which  is  one  of  the  developments  of  trade  and  com 
merce  created  by  the  Mississippi.  Memphis  contains  nearly 
30,000  inhabitants,  but  many  of  them  are  foreigners,  and 
there  is  a  nomad  draft  into  and  out  of  the  place,  which 
abounds  in  haunts  for  Bohemians,  drinking  and  dancing- 
saloons,  and  garning-rooms.  And  this  strange  kaleidoscope 
of  negroes  and  whites  of  the  extremes  of  civilization  in  its 
American  development,  and  of  the  semi-savage  degraded  by 
his  contact  with  the  white ;  of  enormous  steamers  on  the 
river,  which  bears  equally  the  dug-out  or  canoe  of  the  black 
fisherman  ;  the  rail,  penetrating  the  inmost  recesses  of  swamps, 
which  on  either  side  of  it  remain  no  doubt  in  the  same  state 
as  they  were  centuries  ago ;  the  roll  of  heavily-laden  wagons 
through  the  streets  ;  the  rattle  of  omnibuses  and  all  the  phe 
nomena  of  active  commercial  life  before  our  eyes,  included  in 
the  same  scope  of  vision  which  takes  in  at  the  other  side  of 
the  Mississippi  lands  scarcely  yet  settled,  though  the  march 
of  empire  has  gone  thousands  of  miles  beyond  them,  amuses 
but  perplexes  the  traveller  in  this  new  land. 

The  evening  was  so  exceedingly  warm  that  I  was  glad  to 
remain  within  the  walls  of  my  darkened  bedroom.  Ail  the 
six  hundred  and  odd  guests  whom  the  Gayoso  House  is  said 
to  accommodate  were  apparently  in  the  passage  at  one  time. 
At  present  it  is  the  head-quarters  of  General  Gideon  J.  Pil- 


30  G  MY  DIARY  NORTH   AND  SOUTH. 

low,  who  is  charged  with  the  defences  of  the  Tennessee  side 
of  the  river,  and  commands  a  considerable  body  of  troops 
around  the  city  and  in  the  works  above.  The  house  is  con 
sequently  filled  with  men  in  uniform,  belonging  to  the  Gen 
eral's  staff  or  the  various  regiments  of  Tennessee  troops. 

The  Governors  and  the  Legislatures  of  the  States  view  with 
dislike  every  action  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Davis  which  tends  to 
form  the  State  troops  into  a  national  army.  At  first,  indeed, 
the  doctrine  prevailed  that  troops  could  not  be  sent  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  State  in  which  they  were  raised  —  then  it  was 
argued  that  they  ought  not  to  be  called  upon  to  move  outside 
their  borders ;  and  I  have  heard  people  in  the  South  inveigh 
ing  against  the  sloth  and  want  of  spirit  of  the  Virginians,  who 
allowed  their  State  to  be  invaded  without  resisting  the  enemy. 
Such  complaints  were  met  by  the  remark  that  all  the  North 
ern  States  had  combined  to  pour  their  troops  into  Virginia, 
and  that  her  sister  States  ought  in  honor  to  protect  her. 
Finally,  the  martial  enthusiasm  of  the  Southern  regiments 
impelled  them  to  press  forward  to  the  frontier,  and  by  delicate 
management,  and  the  perfect  knowledge  of  his  countrymen 
which  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  possesses,  he  is  now  enabled  to 
amalgamate  in  some  sort  the  diverse  individualities  of  his 
regiments  into  something  like  a  national  army. 

On  hearing  of  my  arrival,  General  Pillow  sent  his  aide-de 
camp  to  inform  me  that  he  was  about  starting  in  a  steamer  up 
the  river,  to  make  an  inspection  of  the  works  and  garrison 
at  Fort  Randolph  and  at  other  points  where  batteries  had 
been  erected  to  command  the  stream,  supported  by  large  levies 
of  Tennesseans.  The  aide-de-camp  conducted  me  to  the 
General,  whom  I  found  in  his  bedroom,  fitted  up  as  an  office, 
littered  with  plans  and  papers.  Before  the  Mexican  War 
General  Pillow  was  a  flourishing  solicitor,  connected  in  busi 
ness  with  President  Polk,  and  commanding  so  much  influence 
that  when  the  expedition  was  formed  he  received  the  nomina 
tion  of  brigadier-general  of  volunteers.  He  served  with  dis 
tinction  and  was  severely  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Chapultepec 
and  at  the  conclusion  of  the  campaign  he  retired  into  civil 
life,  and  was  engaged  directing  the  work  of  his  plantation  till 
this  great  rebellion  summoned  him  once  more  to  the  field. 

Of  course  there  is,  and  must  be,  always  an  inclination  to  de 
ride  these  volunteer  officers  on  the  part  of  regular  soldiers  ; 
and  I  was  informed  by  one  of  the  officers  in  attendance  on  the 
General  that  he  had  made  himself  ludicrously  celebrated  in 


DEFENCES   OF  MEMPHIS.  307 

Mexico  for  having  undertaken  to  throw  up  a  battery  which, 
when  completed,  was  found  to  face  the  wrong  way,  so  that  the 
guns  were  exposed  to  the  enemy.  General  Pillow  is  a  small, 
compact,  clear-complexioned  man,  with  short  gray  whiskers, 
cut  in  the  English  fashion,  a  quick  eye,  and  a  pompous  man 
ner  of  speech ;  and  I  had  not  been  long  in  his  company  be 
fore  I  heard  of  Chapultepec  and  his  wound,  which  causes  him 
to  limp  a  little  in  his  walk,  and  gives  him  inconvenience  in 
the  saddle.  He  wore  a  round  black  hat,  plain  blue  frock-coat, 
dark  trousers,  and  brass  spurs  on  his  boots  ;  but  no  sign  of 
military  rank.  The  General  ordered  carriages  to  the  door, 
and  we  went  to  see  the  batteries  on  the  bluff  or  front  of  the 
esplanade,  which  are  intended  to  check  any  ship  attempting 
to  pass  down  the  river  from  Cairo,  where  the  Federals  under 
General  Prentiss  have  entrenched  themselves,  and  are  under 
stood  to  meditate  an  expedition  against  the  city.  A  parapet  of 
cotton  bales,  covered  with  tarpaulin,  has  been  erected  close  to 
the  edge  of  the  bank  of  earth,  which  rises  to  heights  varying 
from  60  to  150  feet  almost  perpendicularly  from  the  waters  of  the 
Mississippi,  with  zigzag  roads  running  down  through  it  to  the 
landing-places.  This  parapet  could  offer  no  cover  against 
vertical  fire,  and  is  so  placed  that  well-directed  shell  into  the 
bank  below  it  would  tumble  it  all  into  the  water.  The  zigzag 
roads  are  barricaded  with  weak  planks,  which  would  be  shiv 
ered  to  pieces  by  boat-guns ;  and  the  assaulting  parties  could 
easily  mount  through  these  covered  ways  to  the  rear  of  the 
parapet,  and  up  to  the  very  centre  of  the  esplanade. 

The  blockade  of  the  river  at  this  point  is  complete ;  not  a 
boat  is  permitted  to  pass  either  up  or  down.  At  the  extrem 
ity  of  the  esplanade,  on  an  angle  of  the  bank,  an  earthen 
battery,  mounted  with  six  heavy  guns,  has  been  thrown  up, 
which  has  a  fine  command  of  the  river ;  and  the  General  in 
formed  me  he  intends  to  mount  sixteen  guns  in  addition,  on 
a  prolongation  of  the  face  of  the  same  work. 

The  inspection  over,  we  drove  down  a  steep  road  to  the 
water  beneath,  where  the  Ingomar,  a  large  river  steamer, 
now  chartered  for  the  service  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  was 
lying  to  receive  us.  The  vessel  was  crowded  with  troops  — 
all  volunteers,  of  course  —  about  to  join  those  in  camp.  Great 
as  were  their  numbers,  the  proportion  of  the  officers  was  in 
ordinately  large,  and  the  rank  of  the  greater  number  pre 
posterously  high.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if  I  was  introduced  to 
a  battalion  of  colonels,  and  that  I  was  not  permitted  to  pierce 


308  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

to  any  lower  strata  of  military  rank.  I  counted  seventeen 
colonels,  and  believe  the  number  was  not  then  exhausted. 

General  Clarke,  of  Mississippi,  who  had  come  over  from 
the  camp  at  Corinth,  was  on  board,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
making  his  acquaintance.  He  spoke  with  sense  and  firmness 
of  the  present  troubles,  and  dealt  with  the  political  difficulties 
in  a  tone  of  moderation  which  bespoke  a  gentleman  and  a 
man  of  education  and  thought.  He  also  had  served  in  the 
Mexican  war,  and  had  the  air  and  manner  of  a  soldier.  With 
all  his  quietness  of  tone,  there  was  not  the  smallest  disposition 
to  be  traced  in  his  words  to  retire  from  the  present  contest,  or 
to  consent  to  a  reunion  with  the  United  States  under  any  cir 
cumstances  whatever.  Another  general,  of  a  very  different 
type,  was  among  our  passengers,  —  a  dirty-faced,  frightened- 
looking  young  man,  of  some  twenty-three  or  twenty-four 
years  of  age,  redolent  of  tobacco,  his  chin  and  shirt  slavered 
by  its  foul  juices,  dressed  in  a  green  cutaway  coat,  white  jean 
trousers,  strapped  under  a  pair  of  prunella  slippers,  in  which 
he  promenaded  the  deck  in  an  Agag-like  manner,  which  gave 
rise  to  a  suspicion  of  bunions  or  corns.  This  strange  figure 
was  topped  by  a  tremendous  black  felt  sombrero,  looped  up  at 
one  side  by  a  gilt  eagle,  in  which  was  stuck  a  plume  of  ostrich 
feathers,  and  from  the  other  side  dangled  a  heavy  gold  tassel. 
This  decrepit  young  warrior's  name  was  Ruggles  or  Strug 
gles,  who  came  from  Arkansas,  where  he  passed,  I  was  in 
formed,  for  "  quite  a  leading  citizen." 

Our  voyage  as  we  steamed  up  the  river  afforded  no  novelty, 
nor  any  physical  difference  worthy  of  remark,  to  contrast  it 
with  the  lower  portions  of  the  stream,  except  that  upon  our 
right-hand  side,  which  is,  in  effect,  the  left  bank,  there  are 
ranges  of  exceedingly  high  bluffs,  some  parallel  with  and 
others  at  right  angles  to  the  course  of  the  stream.  The  river 
is  of  the  same  pea-soup  color  with  the  same  masses  of  leaves, 
decaying  vegetation,  stumps  of  trees,  forming  small  floating 
islands,  or  giant  cotton-tree,  pines,  and  balks  of  timber  whirling 
down  the  current.  Our  progress  was  slow ;  nor  did  I  regret 
the  captain's  caution,  as  there  must  have  been  fully  nine  hun 
dred  persons  on  board ;  and  although  there  is  but  little  danger 
of  being  snagged  in  the  present  condition  of  the  river,  we  en 
countered  now  and  then  a  trunk  of  a  tree,  which  struck  against 
the  bows  with  force  enough  to  make  the  vessel  quiver  from 
stem  to  stern.  I  was  furnished  with  a  small  berth,  to  which 
I  retired  at  midnight,  just  as  the  Jngomar  was  brought  to  at 
the  Chickasaw  Bluffs,  above  which  lies  Camp  Randolph. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Camp  Randolph  —  Cannon  practice  —  Volunteers  —  "  Dixie  " —  Forc 
ed  return  from  the  South  —  Apathy  of  the  North  —  General  re 
trospect  of  politics  —  Energy  and  earnestness  of  the  South  — 
Fire-arms  —  Position  of  Great  Britain  towards  the  belligerents  — 
Feeling  towards  the  Old  Country. 

June  ISth. — On  looking  out  of  my  cabin  window  this  morning 
I  found  the  steamer  fast  along-side  a  small  wharf,  above  which 
rose,  to  the  height  of  150  feet,  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees, 
the  rugged  bluff  already  mentioned.  The  wharf  was  covered 
with  commissariat  stores  and  ammunition.  Three  heavy  guns, 
which  some  men  were  endeavoring  to  sling  to  rude  bullock- 
carts,  in  a  manner  defiant  of  all  the  laws  of  gravitation,  seemed 
likely  to  go  slap  into  the  water  at  every  moment ;  but  of  the 
many  great  strapping  fellows  who  were  lounging  about,  not  one 
gave  a  hand  to  the  working  party.  A  dusty  track  wound  up 
the  hill  to  the  brow,  and  there  disappeared ;  and  at  the  height 
of  fifty  feet  or  so  above  the  level  of  the  river  two  earthworks 
had  been  rudely  erected  in  an  ineffective  position.  The  vol 
unteers  who  were  lounging  about  the  edge  of  the  stream  were 
dressed  in  different  ways,  and  had  no  uniform. 

Already  the  heat  of  the  sun  compelled  me  to  seek  the  shade  ; 
and  a  number  of  the  soldiers,  laboring  under  the  same  infat 
uation  as  that  which  induces  little  boys  to  disport  themselves 
in  the  Thames  at  Waterloo  Bridge,  under  the  notion  that  they 
are  washing  themselves,  were  swimming  about  in  a  back 
water  of  the  great  river,  regardless  of  cat-fish,  mud,  and 
fever. 

General  Pillow  proceeded  on  shore  after  breakfast,  and  we 
mounted  the  coarse  cart-horse  chargers  which  were  in  wait 
ing  at  the  jetty  to  receive  us.  It  is  scarcely  worth  while  to 
transcribe  from  my  diary  a  description  of  the  works  which  I 
sent  over  at  the  time  to  England.  Certainly,  a  more  extraor 
dinary  maze  could  not  be  conceived,  even  in  the  dreams  of  a 


310  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

sick  engineer  —  a  number  of  mad  beavers  might  possibly  con 
struct  such  dams.  They  were  so  ingeniously  made  as  to  pre 
vent  the  troops  engaged  in  their  defence  from  resisting  the 
enemy's  attacks,  or  getting  away  from  them  when  the  assail 
ants  had  got  inside  —  most  difficult  and  troublesome  to  de 
fend,  and  still  more  difficult  for  the  defenders  to  leave,  the 
latter  perhaps  being  their  chief  merit. 

The  General  ordered  some  practice  to  be  made  with  round 
shot  down  the  river.  An  old  forty-two  pound  carronade  was 
loaded  with  some  difficulty,  and  pointed  at  a  tree  about  1700 
yards  —  which  I  was  told,  however,  was  not  less  than  2500 
yards  —  distant.  The  General  and  his  staff  took  their  posts 
on  the  parapet  to  leeward,  and  I  ventured  to  say,  "  I  think, 
General,  the  smoke  will  prevent  your  seeing  the  shot."  To 
which  the  General  replied,  "  No,  sir,"  in  a  tone  which  indi 
cated,  "  I  beg  you  to  understand  I  have  been  wounded  in 
Mexico,  and  know  all  about  this  kind  of  thing."  "  Fire  !  "  The 
string  was  pulled,  and  out  of  the  touch-hole  popped  a  piece  of 
metal  with  a  little  chirrup.  "  Darn  these  friction  tubes !  I 
prefer  the  linstock  and  match,"  quoth  one  of  the  staff,  sotto 
voce,  "  but  General  Pillow  will  have  us  use  friction  tubes 
made  at  Memphis,  that  ar'n't  worth  a  cuss."  Tube  No.  2, 
however,  did  explode,  but  where  the  ball  went  no  one  could 
say,  as  the  smoke  drifted  right  into  our  eyes. 

The  General  then  moved  to  the  other  side  of  the  gun, 
which  was  fired  a  third  time,  the  shot  falling  short  in  good 
line,  but  without  any  ricochet.  Gun  No.  3  was  next  fired. 
Off  went  the  ball  down  the  river,  but  off  went  the  gun,  too, 
and  with  a  frantic  leap  it  jumped,  carriage  and  all,  clean  off 
the  platform.  Nor  was  it  at  all  wonderful,  for  the  poor  old- 
fashioned  chamber  carronade  had  been  loaded  with  a  charge 
and  a  solid  shot  heavy  enough  to  make  it  burst  with  indigna 
tion.  Most  of  us  felt  relieved  when  the  firing  was  over,  and, 
for  my  own  part,  I  would  much  rather  have  been  close  to  the 
target  than  to  the  battery. 

Slowly  winding  for  some  distance  up  the  steep  road  in  a 
blazing  sun,  we  proceeded  through  the  tents  which  are  scat 
tered  in  small  groups,  for  health's  sake,  fifteen  and  twenty  to 
gether,  on  the  wooded  plateau  above  the  river.  The  tents 
are  of  the  small  ridge-pole  pattern,  six  men  to  each,  many  of 
whom,  from  their  exposure  to  the  sun,  whilst  working  in  these 
trenches,  and  from  the  badness  of  the  water,  had  already  been 
laid  up  with  illness.  As  a  proof  of  General  Pillow's  energy, 


KATIONS  AND  EQUIPMENT.  311 

it  is  only  fair  to  saj  he  is  constructing,  on  the  very  summit  of 
the  plateau,  large  cisterns,  which  will  be  filled  with  water 
from  the  river  by  steam  power. 

The  volunteers  were  mostly  engaged  at  drill  in  distinct 
companies,  but  by  order  of  the  General  some  700  or  800  of 
them  were  formed  into  line  for  inspection.  Many  of  these 
men  were  in  their  shirt  sleeves,  and  the  awkwardness  with 
which  they  handled  their  arms  showed  that,  however  good 
they  might  be  as  shots,  they  were  bad  hands  at  manual  pla 
toon  exercise ;  but  such  great  strapping  fellows,  that,  as  I 
walked  down  the  ranks  there  were  few  whose  shoulders  were 
not  above  the  level  of  my  head,  excepting  here  and  there  a 
weedy  old  man  or  a  growing  lad.  They  were  armed  with  old 
pattern  percussion  muskets,  no  two  clad  alike,  many  very 
badly  shod,  few  with  knapsacks,  but  all  provided  with  a  tin 
water-flask  and  a  blanket.  These  men  have  been  only  five 
weeks  enrolled,  and  were  called  out  by  the  State  of  Tennes 
see,  in  anticipation  of  the  vote  of  secession. 

I  could  get  no  exact  details  as  to  the  supply  of  food,  but 
from  the  Quartermaster-General  I  heard  that  each  man  had 
from  fib.  to  1^  Ib.  of  meat,  and  a  sufficiency  of  bread,  sugar, 
coffee,  and  rice  daily  ;  however,  these  military  Olivers  "asked 
for  more."  Neither  whiskey  nor  tobacco  was  served  out  to 
them,  which  to  such  heavy  consumers  of  both,  must  prove  one 
source  of  dissatisfaction.  The  officers  were  plain,  farmerly 
planters,  merchants,  lawyers,  and  the  like  —  energetic,  de 
termined  men,  but  utterly  ignorant  of  the  most  rudimentary 
parts  of  military  science.  It  is  this  want  of  knowledge  on  the 
part  of  the  officer  which  renders  it  so  difficult  to  arrive  at  a 
tolerable  condition  of  discipline  among  volunteers,  as  the 
privates  are  quite  well  aware  they  know  as  much  of  soldiering 
as  the  great  majority  of  their  officers. 

Having  gone  down  the  lines  of  these  motley  companies, 
the  General  addressed  them  in  a  harangue  in  which  he 
expatiated  on  their  patriotism,  on  their  courage,  and  the 
atrocity  of  the  enemy,  in  an  odd  farrago  of  military  and 
political  subjects.  But  the  only  matter  which  appeared  to 
interest  them  much  was  the  announcement  that  they  would  be 
released  from  work  in  another  day  or  so,  and  that  negroes  would 
be  sent  to  perform  all  that  was  required.  This  announcement 
was  received  with  the  words,  "  Bully  for  us  ! "  and  "  That's 
good."  And  when  General  Pillow  wound  up  a  florid  peroration 
by  assuring  them,  "  When  the  hour  of  danger  comes  I  will  be 


312  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

with  you,"  the  effect  was  by  no  means  equal  to  his  expecta 
tions.  The  men  did  not  seem  to  care  much  whether  General 
Pillow  was  with  them  or  not  at  that  eventful  moment ;  and, 
indeed,  all  dusty  as  he  was  in  his  plain  clothes  he  did  not  look 
very  imposing,  or  give  one  an  idea  that  he  would  contribute 
much  to  the  means  of  resistance.  However,  one  of  the  officers 
called  out,  "  Boys,  three  cheers  for  General  Pillow." 

What  they  may  do  in  the  North  I  know  not,  but  certainly 
the  Southern  soldiers  cannot  cheer,  and  what  passes  muster  for 
that  jubilant  sound  is  a  shrill  ringing  scream  with  a  touch  of 
the  Indian  war-whoop  in  it.  As  these  cries  ended,  a  stentorian 
voice  shouted  out,  "  Who  cares  for  General  Pillow  ?  "  No  one 
answered  ;  whence  I  inferred  the  General  would  not  be  very 
popular  until  the  niggers  were  actually  at  work  in  the 
trenches. 

We  returned  to  the  steamer,  headed  up  stream,  and  pro 
ceeded  onwards  for  more  than  an  hour,  to  another  landing, 
protected  by  a  battery,  where  we  disembarked,  the  General 
being  received  by  a  guard  dressed  in  uniform,  who  turned  out 
with  some  appearance  of  soldierly  smartness.  On  rny  re 
marking  the  difference  to  the  General,  he  told  me  the  corps 
encamped  at  this  point  was  composed  of  gentlemen  planters, 
and  farmers.  They  had  all  clad  themselves,  and  consisted 
of  some  of  the  best  families  in  the  State  of  Tennessee. 

As  we  walked  down  the  gangway  to  the  shore,  the  band  on 
the  upper  deck  struck  up,  out  of  compliment  to  the  English 
element  in  the  party,  the  unaccustomed  strains  of  "  God  save 
the  Queen !  "  and  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  the  loyalty  which 
induced  me  to  stand  in  the  sun,  with  uncovered  head,  till  the 
musicians  were  good  enough  to  desist,  was  appreciated.  Cer 
tainly  a  gentleman,  who  asked  me  why  I  did  so,  looked  very 
incredulous,  and  said  "  That  he  could  understand  it  if  it  had 
been  in  a  church  ;  but  that  he  would  not  broil  his  skull  in  the 
sun,  not  if  General  Washington  was  standing  just  before  him." 
The  General  gave  orders  to  exercise  the  battery  at  this  point, 
and  a  working  party  was  told  off  to  firing  drill.  'Twas  fully 
six  minutes  between  the  giving  of  the  orders  and  the  first  gun 
being  ready. 

On  the  word  "  fire  "  being  given,  the  gunner  pulled  the  lan 
yard,  but  the  tube  did  not  explode ;  a  second  tube  was  in 
serted,  but  a  strong  jerk  pulled  it  out  without  exploding ;  a 
third  time  one  of  the  General's  fuses  was  applied,  which  gave 
way  to  the  pull,  and  was  broken  in  two ;  a  fourth  time  was 


"  DIXIE."  313 

more  successful  —  the  gun  exploded,  and  the  shot  fell  short 
and  under  the  mark  —  in  fact,  nothing  could  be  worse  than 
the  artillery  practice  which  I  saw  here,  and  a  fleet  of  vessels 
coming  down  the  river  might,  in  the  present  state  of  the  gar 
risons,  escape  unhurt. 

There  are  no  disparts,  tangents,  or  elevating  screws  to  the 
gun,  which  are  laid  by  eye  and  wooden  chocks.  I  could  see 
no  shells  in  the  battery,  but  was  told  there  were  some  in  the 
magazine. 

Altogether,  though  Randolph's  Point  and  Fort  Pillow  afford 
strong  positions,  in  the  present  state  of  the  service,  and  equip 
ment  of  guns  and  works,  gunboats  could  run  past  them  with 
out  serious  loss,  and,  as  the  river  falls,  the  fire  of  the  batteries 
will  be  even  less  effective. 

On  returning  to  the  boats  the  band  struck  up  "  The  Mar 
seillaise  "  and  "  Dixie's  Land."  There  are  two  explanations 
of  the  word  Dixie  —  one  is  that  it  is  the  general  term  for  the 
Slave  States,  which  are,  of  course,  south  of  Mason  and  Dix- 
on's  line ;  another,  that  a  planter  named  Dixie,  died  long  ago, 
to  the  intense  grief  of  his  animated  property.  Whether  they 
were  ill-treated  after  he  died,  and  thus  had  reason  to  regret 
his  loss,  or  that  they  had  merely  a  longing  in  the  abstract 
after  Heaven,  no  fact  known  to  me  can  determine  ;  but  cer 
tain  it  is  that  they  long  much  after  Dixie,  in  the  land  to  which 
his  spirit  was  supposed  by  them  to  have  departed,  -md  console 
themselves  in  their  sorrow  by  clamorous  wishes  to  follow  their 
master,  where  probably  the  revered  spirit  would  be  much  sur 
prised  to  find  himself  in  their  company.  The  song  is  the  work 
of  the  negro  melodists  of  New  York. 

In  the  afternoon  we  returned  to  Memphis.  Here  I  was 
obliged  to  cut  short  my  Southern  tour,  though  I  would  will 
ingly  have  stayed,  to  have  seen  the  most  remarkable  social 
and  political  changes  the  world  has  probably  ever  witnessed. 
The  necessity  of  rny  position  obliged  me  to  return  northwards 
—  unless  I  could  write,  there  was  no  use  in  my  being  on  the 
spot  at  all.  By  this  time  the  Federal  fleets  have  succeeded  in 
closing  the  ports,  if  not  effectually,  so  far  as  to  render  the  car 
riage  of  letters  precarious,  and  the  route  must  be  at  best  devi 
ous  and  uncertain. 

Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  was,  I  was  assured,  prepared  to  give 

me  every  facility  at  Richmond  to  enable  me  to  know  and  to 

see  all  that  was  most  interesting  in  the  military  and  political 

action  of  the  New  Confederacy ;  but  of  what  use  could  this 

14 


314  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

knowledge  be  if  I  could  not  communicate  it  to  the  journal  I 
served  ? 

I  had  left  the  North  when  it  was  suffering  from  a  political 
paralysis,  and  was  in  a  state  of  coma  in  which  it  appeared 
conscious  of  the  coming  convulsion  but  unable  to  avert  it. 
The  sole  sign  of  life  in  the  body  corporate  was  some  feeble 
twitching  of  the  limbs  at  Washington,  when  the  district  mili 
tia  were  called  out,  whilst  Mr.  Seward  descanted  on  the  mer 
its  of  the  Inaugural,  and  believed  that  the  anger  of  the  South 
was  a  short  madness,  which  would  be  cured  by  a  mild  appli 
cation  of  philosophical  essays. 

The  politicians,  who  were  urging  in  the  most  forcible  man 
ner  the  complete  vindication  of  the  rights  of  the  Union,  were 
engaged,  when  I  left  them  arguing,  that  the  Union  had  no 
rights  at  all  as  opposed  to  those  of  the  States.  Men  who  had 
heard  with  nods  of  approval  of  the  ordinance  of  secession 
passed  by  State  after  State  were  now  shrieking  out,  "  Slay  the 
traitors  ! " 

The  printed  rags  which  had  been  deriding  the  President  as 
the  great  "  rail-splitter,"  and  his  Cabinet  as  a  collection  of  ig 
noble  fanatics,  were  now  heading  the  popular  rush,  and  call 
ing  out  to  the  country  to  support  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  Minis 
try,  and  were  menacing  with  war  the  foreign  States  which 
dared  to  stand  neutral  in  the  quarrel.  The  declaration  of 
Lord  John  Russell  that  the  Southern  Confederacy  should 
have  limited  belligerent  rights  had  at  first  created  a  thrill  of 
exultation  in  the  South,  because  the  politicians  believed  that 
in  this  concession  was  contained  the  principle  of  recognition ; 
while  it  had  stung  to  fury  the  people  of  the  North,  to  whom 
it  seemed  the  first  warning  of  the  coming  disunion. 

Much,  therefore,  as  I  desired  to  go  to  Richmond,  where  I 
was  urged  to  repair  by  many  considerations,  and  by  the  ear 
nest  appeals  of  those  around  me,  I  felt  it  would  be  impossible, 
notwithstanding  the  interest  attached  to  the  proceedings  there, 
to  perform  my  duties  in  a  place  cut  off  from  all  communica 
tion  with  the  outer  world ;  and  so  I  decided  to  proceed  to 
Chicago,  and  thence  to  Washington,  where  the  Federals  had 
assembled  a  large  army,  with  the  purpose  of  marching  upon 
Richmond,  in  obedience  to  the  cry  of  nearly  every  journal  of 
influence  in  the  Northern  cities. 

My  resolution  was  mainly  formed  in  consequence  of  the  in 
telligence  which  was  communicated  to  me  at  Memphis,  and  I 
told  General  Pillow  that  I  would  continue  my  journey  to 


SOUTHERN  UNANIMITY.  315 

Cairo,  in  order  to  get  within  the  Federal  lines.  As  the  river 
was  blockaded,  the  only  means  of  doing  so  was  to  proceed  by 
rail  to  Columbus,  and  thence  to  take  a  steamer  to  the  Federal 
position ;  and  so,  whilst  the  General  was  continuing  his  inspec 
tion,  I  rode  to  the  telegraph  office,  in  one  of  the  camps,  to  order 
my  luggage  to  be  prepared  for  departure  as  soon  as  I  arrived, 
and  thence  went  on  board  the  steamer,  where  I  sat  down  in 
the  cabin  to  write  my  last  despatch  from  Dixie. 

So  far  I  had  certainly  no  reason  to  agree  with  Mr.  Seward 
in  thinking  this  rebellion  was  the  result  of  a  localized  ener 
getic  action  on  the  part  of  a  fierce  minority  in  the  seceding 
States,  and  that  there  was  in  each  a  large,  if  inert,  mass  op 
posed  to  secession,  which  would  rally  round  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  the  instant  they  were  displayed  in  their  sight.  On  the 
contrary,  I  met  everywhere  with  but  one  feeling,  with  excep 
tions  which  proved  its  unanimity  and  its  force.  To  a  man  the 
people  went  with  their  States,  and  had  but  one  battle  cry, 
"  States'  rights,  and  death  to  those  who  make  war  against 
them  ! " 

Day  after  day  I  had  seen  this  feeling  intensified  by  the 
accounts  which  came  from  the  North  of  a  fixed  determination 
to  maintain  the  war  ;  and  day  after  day,  I  am  bound  to  add, 
the  impression  on  my  mind  was  strengthened  that  "  States' 
rights  "  meant  protection  to  slavery,  extension  of  slave  terri 
tory,  and  free-trade  in  slave  produce  with  the  outer  world  ; 
nor  was  it  any  argument  against  the  conclusion  that  the 
popular  passion  gave  vent  to  the  most  vehement  outcries 
against  Yankees,  abolitionists,  German  mercenaries,  and  mod 
ern  invasion.  I  was  fully  satisfied  in  my  mind  also  that  the 
population  of  the  South,  who  had  taken  up  arms,  were  so 
convinced  of  the  righteousness  of  their  cause,  and  so  com 
petent  to  vindicate  it,  that  they  would  fight  with  the  utmost 
energy  and  valor  in  its  defence  and  successful  establishment. 

The  saloon  in  which  I  was  sitting  afforded  abundant  evi 
dence  of  the  vigor  with  which  the  South  are  entering  upon 
the  contest.  Men  of  every  variety  and  condition  of  life  had 
taken  up  arms  against  the  cursed  Yankee  and  the  Black  Repub 
lican  —  there  was  not  a  man  there  who  would  not  have  given 
his  life  for  the  rare  pleasure  of  striking  Mr.  Lincoln's  head 
off  his  shoulders,  and  yet  to  a  cold  European  the  scene  was 
almost  ludicrous. 

Along  the  covered  deck  lay  tall  Tennesseans,  asleep,  whose 
plumed  felt  hats  were  generally  the  only  indications  of  their 


316  MY   DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

martial  calling,  for  few  indeed  had  any  other  signs  of  uniform, 
except  the  rare  volunteers,  who  wore  stripes  of  red  and 
yellow  cloth  on  their  trousers,  or  leaden  buttons,  and  discolored 
worsted  braid  and  facings  on  their  jackets.  The  afterpart 
of  the  saloon  deck  was  appropriated  to  General  Pillow,  his 
staff,  and  officers.  The  approach '  to  it  was  guarded  by  a 
sentry,  a  tall,  good-looking  young  fellow  in  a  gray  flannel 
shirt,  gray  trousers,  fastened  with  a  belt  and  a  brass  buckle, 
inscribed  U.  S.,  which  came  from  some  plundered  Federal 
arsenal,  and  a  black  wide-awake  hat,  decorated  with  a  green 
plume.  His  Enfield  rifle  lay  beside  him  on  the  deck,  and, 
with  great  interest  expressed  on  his  face,  he  leant  forward  in 
his  rocking-chair  to  watch  the  varying  features  of  a  party 
squatted  on  the  floor,  who  were  employed  in  the  national 
game  of  "  Euchre."  As  he  raised  his  eyes  to  examine  the 
condition  of  the  cigar  he  was  smoking,  he  caught  sight  of  me, 
and  by  the  simple  expedient  of  holding  his  leg  across  my 
chest,  and  calling  out,  "  Hallo  !  where  are  you  going  to  ?  " 
brought  me  to  a  standstill  —  whilst  his  captain  who  was  one 
of  the  happy  euchreists,  exclaimed,  "Now,  Sam,  you  let 
nobody  go  in  there." 

I  was  obliged  to  explain  who  I  was,  whereupon  the  sentry 
started  to  his  feet,  and  said,  "  Oh !  indeed,  you  are  Russell 
that's  been  in  that  war  with  the  Rooshians.  Well,  I'm  very 
much  pleased  to  know  you.  I  shall  be  off  sentry  in  a  few 
minutes ;  I'll  just  ask  you  to  tell  me  something  about  that 
fighting."  He  held  out  his  hand,  and  shook  mine  warmly  as 
he  spoke.  There  was  not  the  smallest  intention  to  offend  in 
his  manner  ;  but,  sitting  down  again,  he  nodded  to  the  cap 
tain,  and  said,  "  It's  all  right ;  it's  Pillow's  friend  —  that's 
Russell  of  the  London  '  Times.' "  The  game  of  euchre  was 
continued  —  and  indeed  it  had  been  perhaps  all  night  —  for 
my  last  recollection  on  looking  out  of  my  cabin  was  of  a  number 
of  people  playing  cards  on  the  floor  and  on  the  tables  all 
down  the  saloon,  and  of  shouts  of  "  Eu-kerr !  "  u  Ten  dollars, 
you  don't !  "  "  I'll  lay  twenty  on  this  !  "  and  so  on;  and  with 
breakfast  the  sport  seemed  to  be  fully  revived. 

There  would  have  been  much  more  animation  in  the  game, 
no  doubt,  had  the  bar  on  board  the  Ingomar  been  opened  ; 
but  the  intelligent  gentleman  who  presided  inside  had  been 
restricted  by  General  Pillow  in  his  avocations  ;  and  when 
numerous  thirsty  souls  from  the  camps  came  on  board,  with 
dry  tongues  and  husky  voices,  and  asked  for  "  mint-juleps," 


"THE  INGOMAR."  317 

"brandy  smashes,"  or  "  whiskey  cocktails,"  he  seemed  to  take 
a  saturnine  pleasure  by  saying,  "  The  General  won't  allow  no 
spirit  on  board,  but  I  can  give  you  a  nice  drink  of  Pillow's 
own  iced  Mississippi  water,"  an  announcement  which  generally 
caused  infinite  disgust  and  some  unhandsome  wishes  respect 
ing  the  General's  future  happiness. 

By  and  by,  a  number  of  sick  men  were  brought  down  on 
litters,  and  placed  here  and  there  along  the  deck.  As  there 
was  a  considerable  misunderstanding  between  the  civilian  and 
military  doctors,  it  appeared  to  be  understood  that  the  best 
way  of  arranging  it  was  not  to  attend  to  the  sick  at  all,  and 
unfortunate  men  suffering  from  fever  and  dysentery  were  left 
to  roll  and  groan,  and  lie  on  their  stretchers,  without  a  soul  to 
help  them.  I  had  a  medicine  chest  on  board,  and  I  ventured 
to  use  the  lessons  of  my  experience  in  such  matters,  adminis 
tered  my  quinine,  James's  Powder,  calomel,  and  opium, 
secundum  meam  artem,  and  nothing  could  be  more  grateful  than 
the  poor  fellows  were  for  the  smallest  mark  of  attention. 
"  Stranger,  remember,  if  I  die,"  gasped  one  great  fellow, 
attenuated  to  a  skeleton  by  dysentery,  "  That  I  am  Robert 
Tallon,  of  Tishimingo  county,  and  that  I  died  for  States' 
rights ;  see,  now,  they  put  that  in  the  papers,  won't  you  ? 
Robert  Tallon  died  for  States'  rights,"  and  so  he  turned  round 
on  his  blanket. 

Presently  the  General  came  on  board,  and  the  Ingomar 
proceeded  on  her  way  back  to  Memphis.  General  Clarke,  to 
whom  I  mentioned  the  great  neglect  from  which  the  soldiers 
were  suffering,  told  me  he  was  afraid  the  men  had  no  medical 
attendance  in  camp.  All  the  doctors,  in  fact,  wanted  to  fight, 
and  as  they  were  educated  men,  and  generally  connected  with 
respectable  families,  or  had  political  influence  in  the  State, 
they  aspired  to  be  colonels  at  the  very  least,  and  to  wield  the 
sword  instead  of  the  scalpel. 

Next  to  the  medical  department,  the  commissariat  and  trans 
port  were  most  deficient ;  but  by  constant  courts-martial, 
stoppages  of  pay,  and  severe  sentences,  he  hoped  these  evils 
would  be  eventually  somewhat  mitigated.  As  one  who  had 
received  a  regular  military  education,  General  Clarke  was 
probably  shocked  by  volunteer  irregularities ;  and  in  such 
matters  as  guard-mounting,  reliefs,  patrols,  and  picket  duties, 
he  declared  they  were  enough  to  break  one's  heart ;  but  I  was 
astonished  to  hear  from  him  that  the  Germans  were  by  far  the 
worst  of  the  five  thousand  troops  under  his  command,  of  whom 
they  formed  more  than  a  fifth. 


318  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Whilst  we  were  conversing,  the  captain  of  the  steamer  in 
vited  us  to  come  up  into  his  cabin  on  the  upper  deck  ;  and  as 
railway  conductors,  steamboat  captains,  bar-keepers,  hotel 
clerks,  and  telegraph  officers  are  among  the  natural  aristocracy 
of  the  land,  we  could  not  disobey  the  invitation,  which  led  to 
the  consumption  of  some  of  the  captain's  private  stores,  and 
many  warm  professions  of  political  faith. 

The  captain  told  me  it  was  rough  work  aboard  sometimes, 
with  "  sports  "  and  chaps  of  that  kind  ;  but  "  God  bless  you  !  " 
said  he,  "  the  river  now  is  not  what  it  used  to  be  a  few  years 
ago,  when  we'd  have  three  or  four  difficulties  of  an  afternoon, 
and  maybe  now  and  then  a  regular  free  fight  all  up  and  down 
the  decks,  that  would  last  a  couple  of  hours,  so  that  when  we 
came  to  a  town  we  would  have  to  send  for  all  the  doctors 
twenty  miles  round,  and  maybe  some  of  them  would  die  in 
spite  of  that.  It  was  the  rowdies  used  to  get  these  fights  up  ; 
but  we've  put  them  pretty  well  down.  The  citizens  have 
hunted  thorn  out,  and  they's  gone  away  west."  "  Well,  then, 
captain,  one's  life  was  not  very  safe  on  board  sometimes." 
"  Safe  !  Lord  bless  you  !  "  said  the  captain  ;  "  if  you  did  not 
meddle,  just  as  safe  as  you  are  now,  if  the  boiler  don't  collapse. 
You  must,  in  course,  know  how  to  handle  your  weepins,  and 
be  pretty  spry  in  taking  your  own  part."  "  Ho,  you  Bill !  " 
to  his  colored  servant,  "  open  that  clothes-press."  "  Now, 
here,"  he  continued,  "  is  how  I  travel ;  so  that  I  am  always 
easy  in  my  mind  in  case  of  trouble  on  board."  Putting  his 
hand  under  the  pillow  of  the  bed  close  beside  him,  he  pulled 
out  a  formidable  looking  double-barrelled  pistol  at  half-cock, 
with  the  caps  upon  it.  "  That's  as  purty  a  pistol  as  Derringer 
ever  made.  I've  got  the  brace  of  them  —  here's  the  other ;  " 
and  with  that  he  whipped  out  pistol  No.  2,  in  an  equal  state 
of  forwardness,  from  a  little  shelf  over  his  bed  ;  and  then  go 
ing  over  to  the  clothes-press,  he  said,  "  Here's  a  real  old  Ken- 
tuck,  one  of  the  old  sort,  as  light  on  the  trigger  as  gossamer, 
and  sure  as  deeth.  Why,  law  bless  me,  a  child  would  cut  a 
turkey's  head  off  with  it  at  a  hundred  yards."  This  was  a 
huge  lump  of  iron,  about  five  feet  long  with  a  small  hole  bored 
down  the  centre,  fitted  in  a  coarse  German-fashioned  stock. 
"  But,"  continued  he,  "  this  is  my  main  dependence  ;  here  is  a 
regular  beauty,  a  first-rate,  with  ball  or  buckshot,  or  whatever 
you  like  —  made  in  London.  I  gave  two  hundred  dollars  for 
it ;  and  it  is  so  short  and  handy,  and  straight  shooting,  I'd  just 
as  soon  part  with  my  life  as  let  it  go  to  anybody ; "  and,  with  a 


GREAT  BRITAIN  AND  AMERICA.  319 

glow  of  pride  in  his  face,  the  captain  handed  round  again  a 
very  short  double-barrelled  gun,  of  some  eleven  or  twelve 
bore,  with  back-action  locks,  and  an  audacious  "  Joseph  Man- 
ton,  London,"  stamped  on  the  plate.  The  manner  of  the  man 
was  perfectly  simple  and  bond  fide  ;  very  much  as  if  Inspec 
tor  Podger  were  revealing  to  a  simpleton  the  mode  by  which 
the  London  police  managed  refractory  characters  in  the  sta 
tion-house. 

From  such  matters  as  these  I  was  diverted  by  the  more 
serious  subject  of  the  attitude  taken  by  England  in  this  quarrel. 
The  concession  of  belligerent  rights  was,  I  found,  misunder 
stood,  and  was  considered  as  an  admission  that  the  Southern 
States  had  established  their  independence  before  they  had 
done  more  than  declare  their  intention  to  fight  for  it. 

It  is  not  within  my  power  to  determine  whether  the  North 
is  as  unfair  to  Great  Britain  as  the  South  ;  but  I  fear  the 
history  of  the  people,  and  the  tendency  of  their  institutions, 
are  adverse  to  any  hope  of  fair-play  and  justice  to  the  old 
country.  And  yet  it  is  the  only  power  in  Europe  for  the  good 
opinion  of  which  they  really  seem  to  care.  Let  any  French, 
Austrian,  or  Russian  journal  write  what  it  pleases  of  the 
United  States,  it  is  received  with  indifferent  criticism  or  callous 
head-shaking.  But  let  a  London  paper  speak,  and  the  whole 
American  press  is  delighted  or  furious. 

The  political  sentiment  quite  overrides  all  other  feelings  ; 
and  it  is  the  only  symptom  statesmen  should  care  about,  as  it 
guides  the  policy  of  the  country.  If  a  man  can  put  faith  in 
the  influence  for  peace  of  common  interests,  of  common  origin, 
common  intentions,  with  the  spectacle  of  this  incipient  war 
before  his  eyes,  he  must  be  incapable  of  appreciating  the  con 
sequences  which  follow  from  man  being  an  animal.  A  war 
between  England  and  the  United  States  would  be  unnatural ; 
but  it  would  not  be  nearly  so  unnatural  now  as  it  was  when  it 
was  actually  waged  in  1776  between  people  who  were  barely 
separated  from  each  other  by  a  single  generation  ;  or  in  1812— 
14,  when  the  foreign  immigration  had  done  comparatively  little 
to  dilute  the  Anglo-Saxon  blood.  The  Norman  of  Hampshire 
and  Sussex  did  not  care  much  for  the  ties  of  consanguinity 
and  race  when  he  followed  his  lord  in  fee  to  ravage  Guienne 
or  Brittany. 

The  general  result  of  my  intercourse  with  Americans  is  to 
produce  the  notion  that  they  consider  Great  Britain  in  a  state 
of  corruption  and  decay,  and  eagerly  seek  to  exalt  France  at 


320  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

her  expense.  Their  language  is  the  sole  link  between  Eng 
land  and  the  United  States,  and  it  only  binds  the  England  of 
1770  to  the  American  of  1860. 

There  is  scarcely  an  American  on  either  side  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line  who  does  not  religiously  believe  that  the  colonies, 
alone  and  single-handed,  encountered  the  whole  undivided 
force  of  Great  Britain  in  the  Revolution,  and  defeated  it.  I 
mean,  of  course,  the  vast  mass  of  the  people ;  and  I  do  not 
think  there  is  an  orator  or  a  writer  who  would  venture  to  tell 
them  the  truth  on  the  subject.  Again,  they  firmly  believe  that 
their  petty  frigate  engagements  established  as  complete  a  naval 
ascendency  over  Great  Britain  as  the  latter  obtained  by  her 
great  encounters  with  the  fleets  of  France  and  Spain.  Their 
reverses,  defeats  and  headlong  routs  in  the  first  war,  their 
reverses  in  the  second,  are  covered  over  by  a  huge  Buncombe 
plaster,  made  up  of  Bunker's  Hill,  Plattsburg,  Baltimore,  and 
New  Orleans. 

Their  delusions  are  increased  and  solidified  by  the  extraor 
dinary  text-books  of  so-called  history,  and  by  the  feasts  and 
festivals  and  celebrations  of  their  e very-day  political  life,  in 
all  of  which  we  pass  through  imaginary  Caudine  Forks  ;  and 
they  entertain  towards  the  old  country  at  best  very  much  the 
feeling  which  a  high-spirited  young  man  would  feel  towards 
the  guardian  who,  when  he  had  come  of  age,  and  was  free 
from  all  control,  sought  to  restrain  the  passions  of  his  early 
life. 

Now  I  could  not  refuse  to  believe  that  in  New  Orleans, 
Montgomery,  Mobile,  Jackson,  and  Memphis  there  is  a  reck 
less  and  violent  condition  of  society,  unfavorable  to  civilization, 
and  but  little  hopeful  for  the  future.  The  most  absolute  and 
despotic  rule,  under  which  a  man's  life  and  property  are  safe, 
is  better  than  the  largest  measure  of  democratic  freedom, 
which  deprives  the  freeman  of  any  security  for  either.  The 
state  of  legal  protection  for  the  most  serious  interests  of  man, 
considered  as  a  civilized  and  social  creature,  which  prevails  in 
America,  could  not  be  tolerated  for  an  instant,  and  would  gen 
erate  a  revolution  in  the  worst  governed  country  in  Europe. 
I  would  much  sooner,  as  the  accidental  victim  of  a  generally 
disorganized  police,  be  plundered  by  a  chance  diligence  robber 
in  Mexico,  or  have  a  fair  fight  with  a  Greek  Klepht,  suffer 
from  Italian  banditti,  or  be  garrotted  by  a  London  ticket-of- 
leave  man,  than  be  bowie-knived  or  revolvered  in  consequence 
of  a  political  or  personal  difference  with  a  man,  who  is  certain 


KENTUCKY  NEUTRAL.  321 

not  in  the  least  degree  to  suffer  from  an  accidental  success  in 
his  argument. 

On  our  return  to  the  hotel  I  dined  with  the  General  and 
his  staff  at  the  public  table,  where  there  was  a  large  assem 
blage  of  military  men,  Southern  ladies,  their  families,  and 
contractors.  This  latter  race  has  risen  up  as  if  by  magic,  to 
meet  the  wants  of  the  new  Confederacy ;  and  it  is  significant 
to  measure  the  amount  of  the  dependence  on  Northern  manu 
facturers  by  the  advertisements  in  the  Southern  journals,  in 
dicating  the  creation  of  new  branches  of  workmanship,  me 
chanical  science,  and  manufacturing  skill. 

Hitherto  they  have  been  dependent  on  the  North  for  the 
very  necessaries  of  their  industrial  life.  These  States  were 
so  intent  on  gathering  in  money  for  their  produce,  expending 
it  luxuriously,  and  paying  it  out  for  Northern  labor,  that  they 
found  themselves  suddenly  in  the  condition  of  a  child  brought 
up  by  hand,  whose  nurse  and  mother  have  left  it  on  the  steps 
of  the  poor-house.  But  they  have  certainly  essayed  to  rem 
edy  the  evil  and  are  endeavoring  to  make  steam-engines,  gun 
powder,  lamps,  clothes,  boots,  railway  carriages,  steel  springs, 
glass,  and  all  the  smaller  articles  for  which  even  Southern 
households  find  a  necessity. 

The  peculiar  character  of  this  contest  develops  itself  in  a 
manner  almost  incomprehensible  to  a  stranger  who  has  been 
accustomed  to  regard  the  United  States  as  a  nation.  Here 
is  General  Pillow,  for  example,  in  the  State  of  Tennessee, 
commanding  the  forces  of  the  State,  which,  in  effect,  belongs 
to  the  Southern  Confederacy ;  but  he  tells  me  that  he  cannot 
venture  to  move  across  a  certain  geographical  line,  dividing 
Tennessee  from  Kentucky,  because  the  State  of  Kentucky, 
in  the  exercise  of  its  sovereign  powers  and  rights,  which  the 
Southern  States  are  bound  specially  to  respect,  in  virtue  of 
their  championship  of  States'  rights,  has,  like  the  United  King 
dom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  declared  it  will  be  neutral 
in  the  struggle  ;  and  Beriah  Magoffin,  Governor  of  the  afore 
said  State,  has  warned  off  Federal  and  Confederate  troops 
from  his  territory. 

General  Pillow  is  particularly  indignant  with  the  cowardice 
of  the  well-known  Secessionists  of  Kentucky  ;  but  I  think  he 
is  rather  more  annoyed  by  the  accumulation  of  Federal  troops 
at  Cairo,  and  their  recent  expedition  to  Columbus  on  the  Ken 
tucky  shore,  a  little  below  them,  where  they  seized  a  Confed 
erate  flag. 

14* 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

Heavy  Bill  —  Railway  travelling  —  Introductions  —  Assassinations  — 
Tennessee  —  "  Corinth  "  —r  "  Troy  "  —  "  Humbolt "  —  "  The  Con 
federate  Camp  "  —  Return  Northwards  —  Columbus  —  Cairo  —  The 
Slavery  Question  —  Prospects  of  the  War —  Coarse  Journalism. 

Jane  19th. — It  is  probable  the  landlord  of  the  Gayoso 
House  was  a  strong  Secessionist,  and  resolved,  therefore,  to 
make  the  most  out  of  a  neutral  customer  like  myself —  cer 
tainly  Herodotus  would  have  been  astonished  if  he  were 
called  upon  to  pay  the  little  bill  which  was  presented  to  me  in 
the  modern  Memphis ;  and  had  the  old  Egyptian  hostelries 
been  conducted  on  the  same  principles  as  those  of  the  Ten- 
nessean  Memphis,  the  "  Father  of  History  "  would  have  had 
to  sell  off  a  good  many  editions  in  order  to  pay  his  way.  I 
had  to  rise  at  three  o'clock  A.  M.,  to  reach  the  train,  which 
started  before  five.  The  omnibus  which  took  us  to  the  station 
was  literally  nave  deep  in  the  dust ;  and  of  all  the  bad  roads  and 
dusty  streets  I  have  yet  seen  in  the  New  World,  where  both 
prevail,  North  and  South,  those  of  Memphis  are  the  worst. 
Indeed,  as  the  citizen,  of  Hibernian  birth,  who  presided  over 
the  luggage  of  the  passengers  on  the  roof,  declared,  "  The 
streets  are  paved  with  waves  of  mud,  only  the  mud  is  all  dust 
when  it's  fine  weather." 

By  the  time  I  had  arrived  at  the  station  my  clothes  were 
covered  with  a  fine  alluvial  deposit  in  a  state  of  powder ;  the 
platform  was  crowded  with  volunteers  moving  off  for  the  wars, 
and  I  was  obliged  to  take  my  place  in  a  carriage  full  of  Con 
federate  officers  and  soldiers  who  had  a  large  supply  of 
whiskey,  which  at  that  early  hour  they  were  consuming  as  a 
prophylactic  against  the  influence  of  the  morning  dews, 
which  hereabouts  are  of  such  a  deadly  character  that,  to  be 
quite  safe  from  their  influence,  it  appears  to  be  necessary, 
judging  from  the  examples  of  my  companions,  to  get  as 
nearly  drunk  as  possible.  Whiskey,  by-the-by,  is  also  a  sov 
ereign  specific  against  the  bites  of  rattle-snakes.  All  the 


FKIENDS   ON   THE  PLATFORM.  323 

dews  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  rattle-snakes  of  the  prairie 
might  have  spent  their  force  or  venom  in  vain  on  my  compan 
ions  before  we  had  got  as  far  as  Union  City. 

I  was  evidently  regarded  with  considerable  suspicion  by  my 
fellow  passengers,  when  they  heard  I  was  going  to  Cairo, 
until  the  conductor  obligingly  informed  them  who  I  was, 
whereupon  I  was  much  entreated  to  fortify  myself  against  the 
dews  and  rattle-snakes,  and  received  many  offers  of  service 
and  kindness. 

Whatever  may  be  the  normal  comforts  of  American  rail 
way  cars,  they  are  certainly  most  unpleasant  conveyances 
when  the  war  spirit  is  abroad,  and  the  heat  of  the  day,  which 
was  excessive,  did  not  contribute  to  diminish  the  annoyance 
of  foul  air  —  the  odor  of  whiskey,  tobacco,  and  the  like,  com 
bined  with  innumerable  flies.  At  Humbolt,  which  is  eighty- 
two  miles  away,  there  was  a  change  of  cars,  and  an  oppor 
tunity  of  obtaining  some  refreshment,  —  the  station  was 
crowded  by  great  numbers  of  men  and  women  dressed  in  their 
best,  who  were  making  holiday  in  order  to  visit  Union  City, 
forty-six  miles  distant,  where  a  force  of  Tennessean  and  Mis 
sissippi  regiments  are  encamped.  The  ladies  boldly  advanced 
into  carriages  which  were  quite  full,  and  as  they  looked  quite 
prepared  to  sit  down  on  the  occupants  of  the  seats  if  they  did 
not  move,  and  to  destroy  them  with  all-absorbing  articles  of 
feminine  warfare,  either  defensive  or  aggressive,  and  crush 
them  with  iron-bound  crinolines,  they  soon  drove  us  out  into 
the  broiling  sun. 

Whilst  I  was  on  the  platform  I  underwent  the  usual  pro 
cess  of  American  introduction,  not,  I  fear,  very  good  humor- 
edly.  A  gentleman  whom  you  never  saw  before  in  your  life, 
walks  up  to  you  and  says,  u  I  am  happy  to  see  you  among  us, 
sir,"  and  if  he  finds  a  hand  wandering  about,  he  shakes  it 
cordially.  "  My  name  is  Jones,  sir,  Judge  Jones  of  Pumpkin 
County.  Any  information  about  this  place  or  State  that  I 
can  give  is  quite  at  your  service."  This  is  all  very  civil  and 
well  meant  of  Jones,  but  before  you  have  made  up  your  mind 
what  to  say,  or  on  what  matter  to  test  the  worth  of  his  prof 
fered  information,  he  darts  off  and  seizes  one  of  the  group 
who  have  been  watching  Jones's  advance,  and  comes  forward 
with  a  tall  man,  like  himself,  busily  engaged  with  a  piece  of 
tobacco.  u  Colonel,  let  me  introduce  you  to  my  friend,  Mr. 
Russell.  This,  sir,  is  one  of  our  leading  citizens,  Colonel 
Knags."  Whereupon  the  Colonel  shakes  hands,  uses  nearly 


324  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

the  same  formula  as  Judge  Jones,  immediately  returns  to  his 
friends,  and  cuts  in  before  Jones  is  back  with  other  friends, 
whom  he  is  hurrying  up  the  platform,  introduces  General 
Cassius  Mudd  and  Dr.  Ordlando  Bellows,  who  go  through 
the  same  ceremony,  arid  as  each  man  has  a  circle  of  his  own, 
my  acquaintance  becomes  prodigiously  extended,  and  my 
hand  considerably  tortured  in  the  space  of  a  few  minutes  ; 
finally  I  am  introduced  to  the  driver  of  the  engine  and  the 
stoker,  but  they  proved  to  be  acquaintances  not  at  all  to  be 
despised,  for  they  gave  me  a  seat  on  the  engine,  which  was 
really  a  boon,  considering  that  the  train  was  crowded  beyond 
endurance,  and  in  a  state  of  internal  nastiness  scarcely  con 
ceivable. 

When  I  had  got  up  on  the  engine  a  gentleman  clambered 
after  me  in  order  to  have  a  little  conversation,  and  he  turned 
out  to  be  an  intelligent  and  clever  man  well  acquainted  with 
the  people  and  the  country.  I  had  been  much  impressed  by 
the  account  in  the  Memphis  papers  of  the  lawlessness  and 
crime  which  seemed  to  prevail  in  the  State  of  Mississippi, 
and  of  the  brutal  shootings  and  stabbings  which  disgraced  it 
and  other  Southern  States.  He  admitted  it  was  true,  but 
could  not  see  any  remedy.  "  Why  not  ?  "  "  Well,  sir,  the 
rowdies  have  rushed  in  on  us,  and  we  can't  master  them ; 
they  are  too  strong  for  the  respectable  people."  "  Then  you 
admit  the  law  is  nearly  powerless  ?  "  "  Well,  you  see,  sir, 
these  men  have  got  hold  of  the  people  who  ought  to  adminis 
ter  the  law,  and  when  they  fail  to  do  so  they  are  so  powerful 
by  reason  of  their  numbers,  and  so  reckless,  they  have  things 
their  own  way." 

"  In  effect,  then,  you  are  living  under  a  reign  of  terror, 
and  the  rule  of  a  ruffian  mob  ?  "  "  It's  not  quite  so  bad  as 
that,  perhaps,  for  the  respectable  people  are  not  much  affected 
by  it,  and  most  of  the  crimes  of  which  you  speak  are  com 
mitted  by  these  bad  classes  in  their  own  section  ;  but  it  is 
disgraceful  to  have  such  a  state  of  things,  and  when  this  war 
is  over,  and  we  have  started  the  confederacy  all  fair,  we'll 
put  the  whole  thing  down.  We  are  quite  determined  to  take 
the  law  into  our  own  hands,  and  the  first  remedy  for  the  con 
dition  of  affairs  which,  we  all  lament,  will  be  to  confine  the 
suffrage  to  native-born  Americans,  and  to  get  rid  of  the  infa 
mous,  scoundrelly  foreigners,  who  now  overrule  us  in  our 
country."  "  But  are  not  many  regiments  of  Irish  and  Ger 
mans  now  fighting  for  you  ?  And  will  these  foreigners  who 


TENNESSEE.  325 

have  taken  up  arms  in  your  cause  be  content  to  receive  as 
the  result  of  their  success  an  inferior  position,  politically,  to 
that  which  they  now  hold  ?  "  "  Well,  sir,  they  must ;  we 
are  bound  to  go  through  with  this  thing  if  we  would  save 
society."  I  had  so  often  heard  a  similar  determination  ex 
pressed  by  men  belonging  to  the  thinking  classes  in  the 
South,  that  I  am  bound  to  believe  the  project  is  entertained 
by  many  of  those  engaged  in  this  great  revolt  —  one  princi 
ple  of  which  indeed,  may  be  considered  hostility  to«  universal 
suffrage,  combining  with  it,  of  course,  the  limitation  of  the 
immigrant  vote. 

The  portion  of  Tennessee  through  which  the  rail  runs  is 
exceedingly  uninteresting,  and  looks  unhealthy,  the  clear 
ings  occur  at  long  intervals  in  the  forest,  and  the  unwhole 
some  population,  who  came  out  of  their  low  shanties,  situated 
amidst  blackened  stumps  of  trees  or  fields  of  Indian  corn, 
did  not  seem  prosperous  or  comfortable.  The  twists  and 
curves  of  the  rail,  through  cane  brakes  and  swamps  exceed 
ed  in  that  respect  any  line  I  have  ever  travelled  on  ;  but  the 
vertical  irregularities  of  the  rail  were  still  greater,  and  the 
engine  bounded  as  if  it  were  at  sea. 

The  names  of  the  stations  show  that  a  savant  has  been 
rambling  about  the  district.  Here  is  Corinth,  which  consists 
of  a  wooden  grog-shop  and  three  log  shanties  ;  the  acropolis 
is  represented  by  a  grocery  store,  of  which  the  proprietors, 
no  doubt,  have  gone  to  the  wars,  as  their  names  were  sus 
piciously  Milesian,  and  the  doors  and  windows  were  fastened  ; 
but  occasionally  the  names  of  the  stations  on  the  railway 
boards  represented  towns  and  villages,  hidden  in  the  wood 
some  distance  away,  and  Mummius  might  have  something 
to  ruin  if  he  marched  off  the  track,  but  not  otherwise. 

The  city  of  Troy  was  still  simpler  in  architecture  than  the 
Grecian  capitol.  The  Dardanian  towers  were  represented 
by  a  timber-house,  in  the  veranda  of  which  the  American 
Helen  was  seated,  in  the  shape  of  an  old  woman  smoking 
a  pipe,  and  she  certainly  could  have  set  the  Palace  of  Priarn 
on  fire  much  more  readily  than  her  prototype.  Four  sheds, 
three  log  huts,  a  saw-mill,  about  twenty  negroes  sitting  on 
a  wood-pile,  and  looking  at  the  train,  constituted  the  rest  of 
the  place,  which  was  certainly  too  new  for  one  to  say,  Troja 
fuit,  whilst  the  general  "  n'xins  "  would  scarcely  authorize  us 
to  say  with  any  confidence,  Troja  fuerit. 

The  train  from  Troy  passed  through  a  cypress  swamp,  over 


326  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

which  the  engine  rattled,  and  hopped  at  a  perilous  rate  along 
high  trestle  work,  till  forty-six  miles  from  Humbolt  we  came 
to  Union  City,  which  was  apparently  formed  by  aggregate 
meetings  of  discontented  shavings  that  had  travelled  out  of  the 
forest  hard  by.  But  a  little  beyond  it  was  the  Confederate 
camp,  which  so  many  citizens  and  citizenesses  had  come  out 
into  the  wilderness  to  see  ;  and  a  general  descent  was  made 
upon  the  place  whilst  the  volunteers  came  swarming  out  of 
their  tents  to  meet  their  friends.  It  was  interesting  to  observe 
the  affectionate  greetings  between  the  young  soldiers,  mothers, 
wives,  and  sweethearts,  and  as  a  display  of  the  force  and  ear 
nestness  of  the  Southern  people  —  the  camp  itself  containing 
thousands  of  men,  many  of  whom  were  members  of  the  first 
families  in  the  State  —  was  specially  significant. 

There  is  no  appearance  of  military  order  or  discipline 
about  the  camps,  though  they  were  guarded  by  sentries  and 
cannon,  and  implements  of  war  and  soldiers'  accoutrements 
were  abundant.  Some  of  the  sentinels  carried  their  firelocks 
under  their  arms  like  umbrellas,  others  carried  the  but  over 
the  shoulder  and  the  muzzle  downwards,  and  one  for  his 
greater  ease  had  stuck  the  bayonet  of  his  firelock  into  the 
ground,  and  was  leaning  his  elbow  on  the  stock  with  his  chin 
on  his  hand,  whilst  sybarites  less  ingenious,  had  simply  depos 
ited  their  muskets  against  the  trees,  and  were  lying  down 
reading  newspapers.  Their  arms  and  uniforms  were  of  differ 
ent  descriptions  —  sporting  rifles,  fowling  pieces,  flint  muskets, 
smooth  bores,  long  and  short  barrels,  new  Enfields,  and  the  like  ; 
but  the  men,  nevertheless,  were  undoubtedly  material  for  excel 
lent  soldiers.  There  were  some  few  boys,  too  young  to  carry 
arms,  although  the  zeal  and  ardor  of  such  lads  cannot  but 
have  a  good  effect,  if  they  behave  well  in  action. 

The  great  attraction  of  this  train  lay  in  a  vast  supply  of 
stores,  with  which  several  large  vans  were  closely  packed, 
and  for  fully  two  hours  the  train  was  delayed,  whilst  hampers 
of  wine,  spirits,  vegetables,  fruit,  meat,  groceries,  and  all  the 
various  articles  acceptable  to  soldiers  living  under  canvas 
were  disgorged  on  the  platform,  and  carried  away  by  the  ex 
pectant  military. 

I  was  pleased  to  observe  the  perfect  confidence  that  was 
felt  in  the  honesty  of  the  men.  The  railway  servants  simply 
deposited  each  article  as  it  came  out  on  the  platform  —  the 
men  came  up,  read  the  address,  and  carried  it  away,  or  left  it, 
as  the  case  might  be ;  and  only  in  one  instance  did  I  see  a 


A   FILIBUSTKRO.  327 

scramble,  which  was  certainly  quite  justifiable,  for,  in  handing 
out  a  large  basket  the  bottom  gave  way,  and  out  tumbled 
onions,  apples,  and  potatoes  among  the  soldiery,  who  stuffed 
their  pockets  and  haversacks  with  the  unexpected  bounty. 
One  young  fellow,  who  was  handed  a  large  wicker-covered 
jar  from  the  van,  having  shaken  it,  and  gratified  his  ear  by 
the  pleasant  jingle  inside,  retired  to  the  roadside,  drew  the 
cork,  and,  raising  it  slowly  to  his  mouth,  proceeded  to  take  a 
good  pull  at  the  contents,  to  the  envy  of  his  comrades ;  but 
the  pleasant  expression  upon  his  face  rapidly  vanished,  and 
spurting  out  the  fluid  with  a  hideous  grimace,  he  exclaimed, 

"  D ;  why,  if  the  old  woman  has  not  gone  and  sent  me  a 

gallon  of  syrup."  The  matter  was  evidently  considered  too 
serious  to  joke  about,  for  not  a  soul  in  the  crowd  even  smiled  ; 
but  they  walked  away  from  the  man,  who,  putting  down 
the  jar,  seemed  in  doubt  as  to  whether  he  would  take  it  away 
or  not. 

Numerous  were  the  invitations  to  stop,  which  I  received 
from  the  officers.  "  Why  not  stay  with  us,  sir ;  what  can  a 
gentleman  want  to  go  among  black  Republicans  and  Yankees 
for?"  It  is  quite  obvious  that  my  return  to  the  Northern 
States  is  regarded  with  some  suspicion ;  but  I  am  bound  to 
say  that  my  explanation  of  the  necessity  of  the  step  was 
always  well  received,  and  satisfied  my  Southern  friends  that  I 
had  no  alternative.  A  special  correspondent,  whose  letters 
cannot  get  out  of  the  country  in  which  he  is  engaged,  can 
scarcely  fulfil  the  purpose  of  his  mission  ;  and  I  used  to  point 
out,  good-humoredly,  to  these  gentlemen  that  until  they  had 
either  opened  the  communication  with  the  North,  or  had 
broken  the  blockade,  and  established  steam  communication 
with  Europe,  I  must  seek  my  base  of  operations  elsewhere. 

At  last  we  started  from  Union  City  ;  and  there  came  into  the 
car,  among  other  soldiers  who  were  going  out  to  Columbus,  a  fine 
specimen  of  the  wild  filibustering  population  of  the  South,  which 
furnish  many  recruits  to  the  ranks  of  the  Confederate  army 
—  a  tall,  brawny-shouldered,  brown-faced,  black -bearded,  hairy- 
handed  man,  with  a  hunter's  eye,  and  rather  a  Jewish  face, 
full  of  life,  energy,  and  daring.  I  easily  got  into  conversation 
with  him,  as  my  companion  happened  to  be  a  freemason,  and 
he  told  us  he  had  been  a  planter  in  Mississippi,  and  once 
owned  llO  negroes,  worth  at  least  some  20,00(U. ;  but,  as  he  said 
himself,  "  I  was  always  patrioting  it  about ; "  and  so  he  went 
off,  first  with  Lopez  to  Cuba,  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner 


328  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

by  the  Spaniards,  but  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  saved  from  the 
execution  which  was  inflicted  on  the  ringleaders  of  the  expe 
dition.  When  he  came  back  he  found  his  plantation  all  the 
worse,  and  a  decrease  amongst  his  negroes ;  but  his  love  of 
adventure  and  filibustering  was  stronger  than  his  prudence 
or  desire  of  gain.  He  took  up  with  Walker,  the  "  gray-eyed 
man  of  destiny,"  and  accompanied  him  in  his  strange  career 
till  his  leader  received  the  coup  de  grace  in  the  final  raid  upon 
Nicaragua. 

Again  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  would  have  been  put  to 
death  by  the  Nicaraguans,  but  for  the  intervention  of  Captain 
Aldham.  "  I  don't  bear  any  love  to  the  Britishers,"  said  he, 
"  but  I'm  bound  to  say,  as  so  many  charges  have  been  made 
against  Captain  Aldham,  that  he  behaved  like  a  gentleman, 
and  if  I  had  been  at  New  Orleans  when  them  cussed  cowardly 
blackguards  ill-used  him,  I'd  have  left  my  mark  so  deep  on  a 
few  of  them,  that  their  clothes  would  not  cover  them  long." 
He  told  us  that  at  present  he  had  only  five  negroes  left,  "  but 
I'm  not  going  to  let  the  black  Republicans  lay  hold  of  them, 
and  I'm  just  going  to  stand  up  for  States'  rights  as  long  as  I 
can  draw  a  trigger  —  so  snakes  and  abolitionists  look  out." 
He  was  so  reduced  by  starvation,  ill-treatment,  and  sickness 
in  Nicaragua,  when  Captain  Aldham  procured  his  release, 
that  he  weighed  only  110  pounds,  but  at  present  he  was  over 
200  pounds,  a  splendid  bete  fauve,  and  without  wishing  so  fine 
a  looking  fellow  any  harm,  I  could  not  but  help  thinking  that 
it  must  be  a  benefit  to  American  society  to  get  rid  of  a  consid 
erable  number  of  these  class  of  which  he  is  a  representative 
man.  And  there  is  every  probability  that  they  will  have  a 
full  opportunity  of  doing  so. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  train  at  Columbus,  twenty-five  miles 
from  Union  City,  my  friend  got  out,  and  a  good  number  of 
men  in  uniform  joined  him,  which  led  me  to  conclude  that 
they  had  some  more  serious  object  than  a  mere  pleasure  trip 
to  the  very  uninteresting  looking  city  on  the  banks  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  which  is  asserted  to  be  neutral  territory,  as  it  be 
longs  to  the  sovereign  State  of  Kentucky.  I  heard,  accident 
ally,  as  I  came  in  the  train,  that  a  party  of  Federal  soldiers 
from  the  camp  at  Cairo,  up  the  river,  had  recently  descended 
to  Columbus  and  torn  down  a  secession  flag  which  had  been 
hoisted  on  the  river's  bank,  to  the  great  indignation  of  many 
of  its  inhabitants. 

In  those  border  States  the  coming  war  promises  to  produce 


COLUMBUS,  KENTUCKY.  329 

the  greatest  misery ;  they  will  be  the  scenes  of  hostile  operations ; 
the  population  is  divided  in  sentiment;  the  greatest  efforts 
will  be  made  by  each  side  to  gain  the  ascendency  in  the  State, 
and  to  crush  the  opposite  faction,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  be 
lieve  that  Kentucky  can  maintain  a  neutral  position,  or  that 
either  Federal  or  Confederates  will  pay  the  smallest  regard 
to  the  proclamation  of  Governor  Magoffin,  and  to  his  empty 
menaces. 

At  Columbus  the  steamer  was  waiting  to  convey  us  up  to 
Cairo,  and  I  congratulated  myself  on  the  good  fortune  of  ar 
riving  in  time  for  the  last  opportunity  that  will  be  afforded  of 
proceeding  northward  by  this  route.  General  Pillow  on  the 
one  hand,  and  General  Prentiss  on  the  other,  have  resolved 
to  blockade  the  Mississippi,  and  as  the  facilities  for  Confed 
erates  going  up  to  Columbus  and  obtaining  information  of 
what  is  happening  in  the  Federal  camps  cannot  readily  be 
checked,  the  general  in  command  of  the  port  to  which  I  am 
bound  has  intimated  that  the  steamers  must  cease  running. 
It  was  late  in  the  day  when  we  entered  once  more  on  the 
father  of  waters,  which  is  here  just  as  broad,  as  muddy,  as 
deep,  and  as  wooded  as  it  is  at  Baton  Rouge,  or  Vicksburg. 

Columbus  is  situated  on  an  elevated  spur  or  elbow  of  land 
projecting  into  the  river,  and  has,  in  commercial  faith,  one  of 
those  futures  which  have  so  many  rallying  points  down  the 
centre  of  the  great  river.  The  steamer  which  lay  at  the 
wharf,  or  rather  the  wooden  piles  in  the  bank  which  afforded 
a  resting  place  for  the  gangway,  carried  no  flag,  and  on  board 
presented  traces  of  better  days,  a  list  of  refreshments  no  longer 
attainable,  and  of  bill  of  fare  utterly  fanciful.  About  twenty 
passengers  came  on  board,  most  of  whom  had  a  distracted  air, 
as  if  they  were  doubtful  of  their  journey.  The  captain  was 
surly,  the  office  keeper  petulant,  the  crew  morose,  and,  per 
haps,  only  one  man  on  board,  a  stout  Englishman,  who  was 
purser  or  chief  of  the  victualling  department,  seemed  at  all  in 
clined  to  be  communicative.  At  dinner  he  asked  me  whether  I 
thought  there  would  be  a  fight,  but  as  I  was  oscillating  be 
tween  one  extreme  and  the  other,  I  considered  it  right  to  con 
ceal  my  opinion  even  from  the  steward  of  the  Mississippi 
boat ;  and,  as  it  happened,  the  expression  of  it  would  not  have 
been  of  much  consequence  one  way  or  the  other,  for  it  turned 
out  that  our  friend  was  of  very  stern  stuff.  "  This  war,"  he 
said,  "is  all  about  niggers;  I've  been  sixteen  years  in  the 
country,  and  I  never  met  one  of  them  yet  was  fit  to  be  any 


330  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

thing  but  a  slave ;  I  know  the  two  sections  well,  and  I  tell 
you,  sir,  the  North  can't  whip  the  South,  let  them  do  their 
best ;  they  may  ruin  the  country,  but  they'll  do  no  good." 

There  were  men  on  board  who  had  expressed  the  strongest 
Secession  sentiments  in  the  train,  but  who  now  sat  and  listened 
and  acquiesced  in  the  opinions  of  Northern  men,  and  by  the 
time  Cairo  was  in  sight,  they,  no  doubt,  would  have  taken 
the  oath  of  allegiance  which  every  doubtful  person  is  required 
to  utter  before  he  is  allowed  to  go  beyond  the  military  post. 

In  about  two  hours  or  so  the  captain  pointed  out  to  me  a 
tall  building  and  some  sheds,  which  seemed  to  arise  out  of  a 
wide  reach  in  the  river,  "  that's  Cairey,"  said  he,  "  where  the 
Unionists  have  their  camp,"  and  very  soon  stars  and  stripes 
were  visible,  waving  from  a  lofty  staff,  at  the  angle  of  low 
land  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio. 

For  two  months  I  had  seen  only  the  rival  stars  and  bars, 
with  the  exception  of  the  rival  banner  floating  from  the  ships 
and  the  fort  at  Pickens.  One  of  the  passengers  told  me 
that  the  place  was  supposed  to  be  described  by  Mr.  Dickens, 
in  "  Martin  Chuzzlewit,"  and  as  the  steamer  approached  the 
desolate  embankment,  which  seemed  the  only  barrier  between 
the  low  land  on  which  the  so-called  city  was  built,  and  the 
waters  of  the  great  river  rising  above  it,  it  certainly  became 
impossible  to  believe  that  sane  men,  even  as  speculators, 
could  have  fixed  upon  such  a  spot  as  the  possible  site  of  a 
great  city,  —  an  emporium  of  trade  and  commerce.  A  more 
desolate  woe-begone  looking  place,  now  that  all  trade  and 
commerce  had  ceased,  cannot  be  conceived  ;  but  as  the  south 
ern  terminus  of  the  Central  Illinois  Railway,  it  displayed  a  very 
different  scene  before  the  war  broke  out. 

With  the  exception  of  the  large  hotel,  which  rises  far 
above  the  levee  of  the  river,  the  public  edifices  are  repre 
sented  by  a  church  and  spire,  and  the  rest  of  the  town  by  a 
line  of  shanties  and  small  houses,  the  rooms  and  upper  stories 
of  which  are  just  visible  above  the  embankment.  The  gen 
eral  impression  effected  by  the  place  was  decidedly  like  that 
which  the  Isle  of  Dogs  produces  on  a  despondent  foreigner  as 
he  approaches  London  by  the  river  on  a  drizzly  day  in  Novem 
ber.  The  stream,  formed  by  the  united  efforts  of  the  Missis 
sippi  and  the  Ohio,  did  not  appear  to  gain  much  breadth,  and 
each  of  the  confluents  looked  as  large  as  its  product  with  the 
other.  Three  steamers  lay  alongside  the  wooden  wharves 
projecting  from  the  embankment,  which  was  also  lined  by 


CAIRO  MOSQUITOES.  331 

some  flat-boats.  Sentries  paraded  the  gangways  as  the 
steamer  made  fast  along  the  shore,  but  no  inquiry  was  di 
rected  to  any  of  the  passengers,  and  I  walked  up  the  levee 
and  proceeded  straight  to  the  hotel,  which  put  me  very  much 
in  mind  of  an  effort  made  by  speculating  proprietors  to  create 
a  watering-place  on  some  lifeless  beach.  In  the  hall  there 
were  a  number  of  officers  in  United  States  uniforms,  and  the 
lower  part  of  the  hotel  was,  apparently,  occupied  as  a  mili 
tary  bureau  ;  finally,  I  was  shoved  into  a  small  dungeon,  with 
a  window  opening  out  on  the  angle  formed  by  the  two  rivers, 
which  was  lined  with  sheds  and  huts  and  terminated  by  a 
battery. 

These  camps  are  such  novelties  in  the  country,  and  there 
is  such  romance  in  the  mere  fact  of  a  man  living  in  a  tent, 
that  people  come  far  and  wide  to  see  their  friends  under 
such  extraordinary  circumstances,  and  the  hotel  at  Cairo  was 
crowded  by  men  and  women  who  had  come  from  all  parts 
of  Illinois  to  visit  their  acquaintances  and  relations  belong 
ing  to  the  State  troops  encamped  at  this  important  point.  The 
salle  a  manger,  a  long  and  lofty  room  on  the  ground  floor, 
which  I  visited  at  supper  time,  was  almost  untenable  by  rea 
son  of  heat  and  flies  ;  nor  did  I  find  that  the  free  negroes, 
who  acted  as  attendants,  possessed  any  advantages  over  their 
enslaved  brethren  a  few  miles  lower  down  the  river  ;  though 
their  freedom  was  obvious  enough  in  their  demeanor  and 
manners. 

I  was  introduced  to  General  Prentiss,  an  agreeable  per 
son,  without  any  thing  about  him  to  indicate  the  soldier.  He 
gave  me  a  number  of  newspapers,  the  articles  in  which  were 
principally  occupied  with  a  discussion  of  Lord  John  Russell's 
speech  on  American  affairs :  Much  as  the  South  found  fault 
with  the  British  minister  for  the  views  he  had  expressed,  the 
North  appears  much  more  indignant,  and  denounces  in  the 
press  what  the  journalists  are  pleased  to  call  "  the  hostility  of 
the  Foreign  Minister  to  the  United  States."  It  is  admitted, 
however,  that  the  extreme  irritation  caused  by  admitting  the 
Southern  States  to  exercise  limited  belligerent  rights  was  not 
quite  justifiable.  Soon  after  nightfall  I  retired  to  my  room 
and  battled  with  mosquitoes  till  I  sank  into  sleep  and  exhaus 
tion,  and  abandoned  myself  to  their  mercies ;  perhaps,  after 
all,  there  were  not  more  than  a  hundred  or  so,  and  their  united 
efforts  could  not  absorb  as  much  blood  as  would  be  taken  out 
by  one  leech,  but  then  their  horrible  acrimony,  which  leaves 


332  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

a  wreck  behind  in  the  place  where  they  have  banqueted,  in 
spires  the  utmost  indignation  and  appears  to  be  an  indefensible 
prolongation  of  the  outrage  of  the  original  bite. 

June  20th.  —  When  I  awoke  this  morning  and,  gazing  out 
of  my  little  window  on  the  regiments  parading  on  the  level 
below  me,  after  an  arduous  struggle  to  obtain  cold  water  for  a 
bath,  sat  down  to  consider  what  I  had  seen  within  the  last 
two  months,  and  to  arrive  at  some  general  results  from  the 
retrospect,  I  own  that  after  much  thought  my  mind  was 
reduced  to  a  hazy  analysis  of  the  abstract  principles  of  right 
and  wrong,  in  which  it  failed  to  come  to  any  very  definite  con 
clusion  :  the  space  of  a  very  few  miles  has  completely  altered 
the  phases  of  thought  and  the  forms  of  language. 

I  am  living  among  "abolitionists,  cut-throats,  Lincolnite 
mercenaries,  foreign  invaders,  assassins,  and  plundering  Dutch 
men."  Such,  at  least,  the  men  of  Columbus  tell  me  the  gar 
rison  at  Cairo  consists  of.  Down  below  me  are  "  rebels,  con 
spirators,  robbers,  slave  breeders,  wretches  bent  upon  destroy 
ing  the  most  perfect  government  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  in 
order  to  perpetuate  an  accursed  system,  by  which,  however, 
beings  are  held  in  bondage  and  immortal  souls  consigned  to 
perdition." 

On  the  whole,  the  impression  left  upon  my  mind  by  what 
I  had  seen  in  slave  states  is  unfavorable  to  the  institution  of 
slavery,  both  as  regards  its  effect  on  the  slave  and  its  influ 
ence  on  the  master.  But  my  examination  was  necessarily 
superficial  and  hasty.  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  more 
deeply  the  institution  is  probed,  the  more  clearly  will  its  un- 
soundness  and  its  radical  evils  be  discerned.  The  constant 
appeals  made  to  the  physical  comforts  of  the  slaves,  and  their 
supposed  contentment,  have  little  or  no  effect  on  any  person 
who  acts  up  to  a  higher  standard  of  human  happiness  than 
that  which  is  applied  to  swine  or  the  beasts  of  the  fields  "  See 
how  fat  my  pigs  are." 

The  arguments  founded  on  a  comparison  of  the  condition 
of  the  slave  population  with  the  pauperized  inhabitants  of 
European  states  are  utterly  fallacious,  inasmuch  as  in  one 
point,  which  is  the  most  important  by  far,  there  can  be  no  com 
parison  at  all.  In  effect  slavery  can  only  be  justified  in  the 
abstract  on  the  grounds  which  slavery  advocates  decline  to 
take  boldly,  though  they  insinuate  it  now  and  then,  that  is, 
the  inferiority  of  the  negro  in  respect  to  white  men,  which 
removes  them  from  the  upper  class  of  human  beings  and 


THE  WRATH  TO  COME.  333 

places  them  in  a  condition  which  is  as  much  below  the  Cau 
casian  standard  as  the  quadrumanous  creatures  are  beneath  the 
negro.  Slavery  is  a  curse,  with  its  time  of  accomplishment 
not  quite  at  hand  —  it  is  a  cancer,  the  ravages  of  which  are 
covered  by  fair  outward  show,  and  by  the  apparent  health  of 
the  sufferer. 

The  Slave  States,  of  course,  would  not  support  the  Northern 
for  a  year,  if  cotton,  sugar,  and  tobacco  became  suddenly 
worthless.  But,  nevertheless,  the  slave-owners  would  have 
strong  grounds  to  stand  upon  if  they  were  content  to  point  to 
the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  emancipation,  and  the  circum 
stances  under  which  they  received  their  damnosa  heredilas 
from  England,  which  fostered,  nay  forced,  slavery  in  legisla 
tive  hotbeds  throughout  the  colonies.  The  Englishman  may 
say,  "  We  abolished  slavery  when  we  saw  its  evils."  The 
slave-owner  replies,  "  Yes,  with  you  it  was  possible  to  decree 
the  extinction  —  not  with  us." 

Never  did  a  people  enter  on  a  war  so  utterly  destitute  of 
any  reason  for  waging  it,  or  of  the  means  of  bringing  it  to  a 
successful  termination  against  internal  enemies.  The  thirteen 
colonies  had  a  large  population  of  sea-faring  and  soldiering 
men,  constantly  engaged  in  military  expeditions.  There  was 
a  large  infusion,  compared  with  the  numbers  of  men  capable 
of  commanding  in  the  field,  and  their  great  enemy  was  sep 
arated  by  a  space  far  greater  than  the  whole  circumference  of 
the  globe  would  be  in  the  present  time  from  the  scene  of 
operations.  Most  American  officers  who  took  part  in  the  war 
of  1812-14  are  now  too  old  for  service,  or  retired  into  private 
life  soon  after  the  campaign.  The  same  remark  applies  to 
the  senior  officers  who  served  in  Mexico,  and  the  experiences 
of  that  campaign  could  not  be  of  much  use  to  those  now  in 
the  service,  of  whom  the  majority  were  subalterns^  or  at  most, 
officers  in  command  of  volunteers. 

A  love  of  military  display  is  very  different  indeed  from  a 
true  soldierly  spirit,  and  at  the  base  of  the  volunteer  system 
there  lies  a  radical  difficulty,  which  must  be  overcome  before 
real  military  efficiency  can  be  expected.  In  the  South  the 
foreign  element  has  contributed  largely  to  swell  the  ranks  with 
many  docile  and  a  few  experienced  soldiers,  the  number  of 
the  latter  predominating  in  the  German  levies,  and  the  same 
remark  is,  1  hear,  true  of  the  Northern  armies. 

The  most  active  member  of  the  staff  here  is  a  young 
Englishman  named  Binmore,  who  was  a  stenographic  writer 


334  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

in  London,  but  has  now  sharpened  his  pencil  into  a  sword, 
and  when  I  went  into  the  guard-room  this  morning  I  found 
that  three  fourths  of  the  officers,  including  all  who  had  seen 
actual  service,  were  foreigners.  One,  Milotzky,  was  an  Hun 
garian  ;  another,  Waagner,  was  of  the  same  nationality ;  a 
third,  Schuttner,  was  a  German ;  another,  Mac  something,  was 
a  Scotchman ;  another  was  an  Englishman.  One  only  (Colo 
nel  Morgan),  who  had  served  in  Mexico,  was  an  American. 
The  foreigners,  of  course,  serve  in  this  war  as  mercenaries ; 
that  is,  they  enter  into  the  conflict  to  gain  something  by  it, 
either  in  pay,  in  position,  or  in  securing  a  status  for  themselves. 

The  utter  absence  of  any  fixed  principle  determining  the 
side  which  the  foreign  nationalities  adopt  is  proved  by  their 
going  North  or  South  with  the  state  in  which  they  live.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  effects  of  discipline  and  of  the  principles 
of  military  life  on  rank  and  file  are  shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  soldiers  of  the  regular  regiments  of  the  United  States  and 
the  sailors  in  the  navy  have  to  a  man  adhered  to  their  colors, 
notwithstanding  the  examples  and  inducements  of  their 
officers. 

After  breakfast  I  went  down  about  the  works,  which  fortify 
the  bank  of  mud,  in  the  shape  of  a  V,  formed  by  the  two 
rivers  —  a  fleche  with  a  ditch,  scarp,  and  counter-scarp. 
Some  heavy  pieces  cover  the  end  of  the  spit  at  the  other  side 
of  the  Mississippi,  at  Bird's  Point.  On  the  side  of  Missouri 
there  is  a  field  intrenchment,  held  by  a  regiment  of  Germans, 
Poles,  and  Hungarians,  about  1000  strong,  with  two  field  bat 
teries.  The  sacred  soil  of  Kentucky,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Ohio,  is  tabooed  by  Beriah  Magoffin,  but  it  is  not  possible  for 
the  belligerents  to  stand  so  close  face  to  face  without  occupy 
ing  either  Columbus  or  Hickman.  The  thermometer  was  at 
100°  soon  after  breakfast,  and  it  was  not  wonderful  to  find 
that  the  men  in  Camp  Defiance,  which  is  the  name  of  the  can 
tonment  on  the  mud  between  the  levees  of  the  Ohio  and  Mis 
sissippi,  were  suffering  from  diarrhoea  and  fever. 

In  the  evening  there  was  a  review  of  three  regiments,  form 
ing  a  brigade  of  some  2800  men,  who  went  through  their  drill, 
advancing  in  columns  of  company,  moving  en  echelon,  changing 
front,  deploying  into  line  on  the  centre  company,  very  credi 
tably.  It  was  curious  to  see  what  a  start  ran  through  the 
men  during  the  parade  when  a  gun  was  fired  from  the  battery 
close  at  hand,  and  how  their  heads  turned  toward  the  river  ; 
but  the  steamer  which  had  appeared  round  the  bend  hoisted 


ELEGANT  EXTRACTS.  335 

the  private  signs,  by  which  she  was  known  as  a  friend,  and 
tranquillity  was  restored. 

I  am  not  sure  that  most  of  these  troops  desire  anything  but 
a  long  residence  at  a  tolerably  comfortable  station,  with  plenty 
of  pay  and  no  marching.  Cairo,  indeed,  is  not  comfortable  ; 
the  worst  barrack  that  ever  asphyxiated  the  British  soldier 
would  be  better  than  the  best  shed  here,  and  the  flies  and  the 
mosquitoes  are  beyond  all  conception  virulent  and  pestiferous. 
I  would  not  give  much  to  see  Cairo  in  its  normal  state,  but  it 
is  my  fate  to  witness  the  most  interesting  scenes  in  the  world, 
through  a  glaze  of  gunpowder.  It  would  be  unfair  to  say  that 
any  marked  superiority  in  dwelling,  clothing,  or  comfort  was 
visible  between  the  mean  white  of  Cairo  or  the  black  chattel 
a  few  miles  down  the  river.  Brawling,  rioting,  and  a  good 
deal  of  drunkenness  prevailed  in  the  miserable  sheds  which 
line  the  stream,  although  there  was  nothing  to  justify  the 
libels  on  the  garrison  of  the  Columbus  Crescent,  edited  by  one 
Colonel  L.  G.  Faxon,  of  the  Tennessee  Tigers,  with  whose 
writings  I  was  made  acquainted  by  General  Prentiss,  to  whom 
they  appeared  to  give  more  annoyance  than  he  was  quite  wise 
in  showing. 

This  is  a  style  of  journalism  which  may  have  its  merits, 
and  which  certainly  is  peculiar ;  I  give  a  few  small  pieces. 
"  The  Irish  are  for  us,  and  they  will  knock  Bologna  sausages 
out  of  the  Dutch,  and  we  will  knock  wooden  nutmegs  out  of 
the  Yankees."  "  The  mosquitoes  of  Cairo  have  been  sucking 
the  lager-bier  out  of  the  dirty  soldiers  there  so  long,  they  are 
bloated  and  swelled  up  as  large  as  spring  'possums.  An  as 
sortment  of  Columbus  mosquitoes  went  up  there  the  other  day 
to  suck  some,  but  as  they  have  not  returned,  the  probability 
is  they  went  off  with  delirium  tremens  ;  in  fact,  the  blood  of 
these  Hessians  would  poison  the  most  degraded  tumble  bug  in 
creation." 

Our  editor  is  particularly  angry  about  the  recent  seizure  of 
a  Confederate  flag  at  Columbus  by  Colonel  Oglesby  and  a 
party  of  Federals  from  Cairo.  Speaking  of  a  flag  intended 
for  himself,  he  says,  "Would  that  its  folds  had  contained 
1000  asps  to  sting  1000  Dutchmen  to  eternity  unshriven." 
Our  friend  is  certainly  a  genius.  His  paper  of  June  the  19th 
opens  with  an  apology  for  the  non-appearance  of  the  journal 
for  several  weeks.  "  Before  leaving,"  he  says,  "  we  engaged 
the  services  of  a  competent  editor,  and  left  a  printer  here  to 
issue  the  paper  regularly.  We  were  detained  several  weeks 


336  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

beyond  our  time,  the  aforesaid  printer  promised  faithfully  to 
perform  his  duties,  but  he  left  the  same  day  we  did,  and  con 
sequently  there  was  no  one  to  get  out  the  paper.  We  have 
the  charity  to  suppose  that  fear  and  bad  whiskey  had  nothing 
to  do  with  his  evacuation  of  Columbus."  Another  elegant 
extract  about  the  flag  commences,  "  When  the  bow-legged 
wooden-shoed,  sour  craut  stinking,  Bologna  sausage  eating, 

hen  roost  robbing  Dutch  sons  of had  accomplished  the 

brilliant  feat  of  taking  down  the  Secession  flag  on  the  river 
bank,  they  were  pointed  to  another  flag  of  the  same  sort 
which  their  guns  did  not  cover,  flying  gloriously  and  defiantly, 
and  dared  yea !  double  big  black  dog  —  dared,  as  we  used  to 
say  at  school,  to  take  that  flag  down  —  the  cowardly  pups,  the 
thieving  sheep  dogs,  the  sneaking  skunks  dare  not  do  so, 
because  their  twelve  pieces  of  artillery  were  not  bearing  on 
it."  As  to  the  Federal  commander  at  Cairo,  Colonel  Faxon's 
sentiments  are  unambiguous.  "The  qualifications  of  this 
man,  Prentiss,"  he  says,  "  for  the  command  of  such  a  squad  of 
villains  and  cut-throats  are,  that  he  is  a  miserable  hound,  a 
dirty  dog,  a  sociable  fellow,  a  treacherous  villain,  a  notorious 
thief,  a  lying  blackguard,  who  has  served  his  regular  five 
years  in  the  Penitentiary  and  keeps  his  hide  continually  full 
of  Cincinnati  whiskey,  which  he  buys  by  the  barrel  in  order 
to  save  his  money  —  in  him  are  embodied  the  leprous  rascali 
ties  of  the  world,  and  in  this  living  score,  the  gallows  is 
cheated  of  its  own.  Prentiss  wants  our  scalp  ;  we  propose  a 
plan  by  which  he  may  get  that  valuable  article.  Let  him 
select  150  of  his  best  fighting  men,  or  250  of  his  lager-bier 
Dutchmen,  we  will  select  100,  then  let  both  parties  meet 
where  there  will  be  no  interruption  at  the  scalping  business, 
and  the  longest  pole  will  knock  the  persimmon.  If  he  does 
not  accept  this  proposal,  he  is  a  coward.  We  think  this  a 
gentlemanly  proposition  and  quite  fair  and  equal  to  both 
parties." 


CHAPTER  XL. 

Camp  at  Cairo  —  The  North  and  the  South  in  respect  to  Europe 

—  Political  reflections — Mr.    Colonel   Oglesby — My  speech  — 
Northern  and  Southern  soldiers  compared  —  American  country- 
walks  —  Recklessness  of  life  —  Want  of  cavalry  —  Emeute  in  the 
camp  —  Defects  of  army  medical  department  —  Horrors  of  war 

—  Bad  discipline. 

June  21st.  —  Verily  I  would  be  sooner  in  the  Coptic  Cairo, 
narrow  streeted,  dark  bazaared,  many  flied,  much  vexed  by 
donkeys  and  by  overland  route  passengers,  than  the  horrid 
tongue  of  land  which  licks  the  muddy  margin  of  the  Ohio 
and  the  Mississippi.  The  thermometer  at  100°  in  the  shade- 
before  noon  indicates  nowhere  else  such  an  amount  of  heat 
and  suffering,  and  yet  prostrate  as  I  was,  it  was  my  fate  to 
argue  that  England  was  justified  in  conceding  belligerent 
rights  to  the  South,  and  that  the  attitude  of  neutrality  we  had 
assumed  in  this  terrible  quarrel  is  not  in  effect  an  aggression 
on  the  United  States ;  and  here  is  a  difference  to  be  perceived 
between  the  North  and  the  South. 

The  people  of  the  seceding  States,  aware  in  their  con 
sciences  that  they  have  been  most  active  in  their  hostility  to 
Great  Britain,  and  whilst  they  were  in  power  were  mainly 
responsible  for  the  defiant,  irritating,  and  insulting  tone  com 
monly  used  to  us  by  American  statesmen,  are  anxious  at  the 
present  moment  when  so  much  depends  on  the  action  of  for 
eign  countries,  to  remove  all  unfavorable  impressions  from 
our  minds  by  declarations  of  good  will,  respect,  and  admira 
tion,  not  quite  compatible  with  the  language  of  their  leaders 
in  times  not  long  gone  by.  The  North,  as  yet  unconscious  of 
the  loss  of  power,  and  reared  in  a  school  of  menace  and  vio 
lent  assertion  of  their  rights,  regarding  themselves  as  the  whole 
of  the  United  States,  and  animated  by  their  own  feeling  of 
commercial  and  political  opposition  to  Great  Britain,  main 
tain  the  high  tone  of  a  people  who  have  never  known  let  or 
hindrance  in  their  passions,  and  consider  it  an  outrage  that 
15 


338  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

the  whole  world  does  not  join  in  active  sympathy  for  a  gov 
ernment  which  in  its  brief  career  has  contrived  to  affront 
every  nation  in  Europe  with  which  it  had  any  dealings. 

If  the  United  States  have  astonished  France  by  their  in 
gratitude,  they  have  certainly  accustomed  England  to  their 
petulance,  and  one  can  fancy  the  satisfaction  with  which  the 
Austrian  Statesmen  who  remember  Mr.  Webster's  despatch 
to  Mr.  Hulsemann,  contemplate  the  present  condition  of  the 
United  States  in  the  face  of  an  insurrection  of  these  sover 
eign  and  independent  States  which  the  Cabinet  at  Washing 
ton  stigmatizes  as  an  outbreak  of  rebels  and  traitors  to  the 
royalty  of  the  Union. 

During  my  short  sojourn  in  this  country  I  have  never  yet 
met  any  person  who  could  show  me  where  the  sovereignty  of 
the  Union  resides.  General  Prentiss,  however,  and  his  Illi 
nois  volunteers,  are  quite  ready  to  fight  for  it. 

In  the  afternoon  the  General  drove  me  round  the  camps  in 
company  with  Mr.  Washburne,  Member  of  Congress,  from 
Illinois,  his  staff  and  a  party  of  officers,  among  whom  wras  Mr.  - 
Oglesby,  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  State  Volunteers,  who  struck 
me  by  his  shrewdness,  simple  honesty,  and  zeal.*  He  told 
me  that  he  had  begun  life  in  the  utmost  obscurity,  but  that 
somehow  or  other  he  got  into  a  lawyer's  office,  and  there,  by 
hard  drudgery,  by  mother  wit,  and  industry,  notwithstanding 
a  defective  education,  he  had  raised  himself  not  only  to  inde 
pendence,  but  to  such  a  position  that  1000  men  had  gathered 
at  his  call  and  selected  one  who  had  never  led  a  company  in 
his  life  to  be  their  colonel ;  in  fact,  he  is  an  excellent  orator 
of  the  western  school,  and  made  good  homely,  telling  speeches 
to  his  men. 

"  I'm  not  as  good  as  your  Frenchmen  of  the  schools  of 
Paris,  nor  am  J  equal  to  the  Russian  colonels  I  met  at  St. 
Petersburg,  who  sketched  me  out  how  they  had  beaten  you 
Britishers  at  Sebastopol,"  said  he;  "but  I  know  I  can  do 
good  straight  fighting  with  my  boys  when  I  get  a  chance. 
There  is  a  good  deal  in  training,  to  be  sure,  but  nature  tells 
too.  Why  1  believe  I  would  make  a  good  artillery  officer  if 
I  was  put  to  it.  General,  you  heard  how  I  laid  one  of  them 
guns  the  other  day  and  touched  her  off  with  my  own  hand 
and  sent  the  ball  right  into  a  tree  half-a-mile  away."  The 
Colonel  evidently  thought  he  had  by  that  feat  proved  his  fit 
ness  for  the  command  of  a  field  battery.  One  of  the  German 
*  Since  died  of  wounds  received  in  action. 


CAMP  ORATORY.  339 

officers  who  was  listening  to  the  lively  old  man's  talk,  whis 
pered  to  me,  "  Dere  is  a  good  many  of  tese  colonels  in  dis 
camp." 

At  each  station  the  officers  came  out  of  their  tents,  shook 
hands  all  round,  and  gave  an  unfailing  invitation  to  get  down 
and  take  a  drink,  and  the  guns  on  the  General's  approach 
fired  salutes,  as  though  it  was  a  time  of  profbundest  peace. 
Powder  was  certainly  more  plentiful  than  in  the  Confederate 
camps,  where  salutes  are  not  permitted  unless  by  special  order 
on  great  occasions. 

The  General  remained  for  some  time  in  the  camp  of  the 
Chicago  light  artillery,  which  was  commanded  by  a  fine  young 
Scotchman  of  the  Saxon  genus  Smith,  who  told  me  that  the 
privates  of  his  company  represented  a  million  and  a  half  of 
dollars  in  property.  Their  guns,  horses,  carriages,  and  ac 
coutrements  were  all  in  the  most  creditable  order,  and  there 
was  an  air  about  the  men  and  about  their  camp  which  showed 
they  did  not  belong  to  the  same  class  as  the  better  disciplined 
Hungarians  of  Milotzky  close  at  hand. 

Whilst  we  were  seated  in  Captain  Smith's  tent,  a  number 
of  the  privates  came  forward,  and  sang  the  "  Star-spangled 
banner,"  and  a  patriotic  song,  to  the  air  of  "  God  save  the 
Queen  ! "  and  the  rest  of  the  artillery-men,  and  a  number  of 
stragglers  from  the  other  camps,  assembled  and  then  formed 
line  behind  the  singers.  When  the  chorus  was  over  there 
arose  a  great  shout  for  Washburne,  and  the  honorable  con 
gressman  was  fain  to  come  forward  and  make  a  speech,  in 
which  he  assured  his  hearers  of  a  very  speedy  victory  and  the 
advent  of  liberty  all  over  the  land.  Then  "  General  Prentiss" 
was  called  for;  and  as  citizen  soldiers  command  their  Generals 
on  such  occasions,  he  too  was  obliged  to  speak,  and  to  tell  his 
audience  "  the  world  had  never  seen  any  men  more  devoted, 
gallant,  or  patriotic  than  themselves."  "  Oglesby  "  was  next 
summoned,  and  the  tall,  portly,  good-humored  old  man  stepped 
to  the  front,  and  with  excellent  tact  and  good  sense,  dished  up 
in  the  Buncombe  style,  told  them  the  time  for  making  speeches 
had  passed,  indeed  it  had  lasted  too  long ;  and  although  it  was 
paid  there  was  very  little  fighting  when  there  was  much  talk 
ing,  he  believed  too  much  talking  was  likely  to  lead  to  a  great 
deal  more  fighting  than  any  one  desired  to  see  between  citi 
zens  of  the  United  States  of  America,  except  their  enemies, 
who,  no  doubt,  were  much  better  pleased  to  see  Americans 
fighting  each  other  than  to  find  them  engaged  in  any  other 


340  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

employment.  Great  as  the  mischief  of  too  much  talking  had 
been,  too  much  writing  had  far  more  of  the  mischief  to  an 
swer  for.  The  pen  was  keener  than  the  tongue,  hit  harder, 
and  left  a  more  incurable  wound ;  but  the  pen  was  better  than 
the  tongue,  because  it  was  able  to  cure  the  mischief  it  had  in 
flicted."  And  so  by  a  series  of  sentences  the  Colonel  got  round 
to  me,  and  to  my  consternation,  remembering  how  I  had  fared 
with  my  speech  at  the  little  private  dinner  on  St.  Patrick's 
Day  in  New  York,  I  was  called  upon  by  stentorian  lungs,  and 
hustled  to  the  stump  by  a  friendly  circle,  till  I  escaped  by  ut 
tering  a  few  sentences  as  to  "  mighty  struggle,"  "  Europe  gaz 
ing,"  "  the  world  anxious,"  "  the  virtues  of  discipline,"  "  the 
admirable  lessons  of  a  soldier's  life,"  and  the  "  aspiration  that 
in  a  quarrel  wherein  a  British  subject  was  ordered,  by  an  au 
thority  he  was  bound  to  respect,  to  remain  neutral,  God  might 
preserve  the  right." 

Colonel,  General,  and  all  addressed  the  soldiers  as  "  gen 
tlemen,"  and  their  auditory  did  not  on  their  part  refrain  from 
expressing  their  sentiments  in  the  most  unmistakable  manner. 
"  Bully  for  you,  General !  "  "  Bravo,  Washburne  !  "  "  That's 
so,  Colonel  !  "  and  the  like,  interrupted  the  harangues  ;  and 
when  the  oratorical  exercises  were  over  the  men  crowded 
round  the  staff,  cheered  and  hurrahed,  and  tossed  up  their 
caps  in  the  greatest  delight. 

With  the  exception  of  the  foreign  officers,  and  some  of  the 
Staff,  there  are  very  few  of  the  colonels,  majors,  captains,  or 
lieutenants  who  know  anything  of  their  business.  The  men 
do  not  care  for  them,  and  never  think  of  saluting  them.  A 
regiment  of  Germans  was  sent  across  from  Bird's  Point  this 
evening  for  plundering  and  robbing  the  houses  in  the  district 
in  which  they  were  quartered. 

It  may  be  readily  imagined  that  the  scoundrels  who  had  to 
fly  from  every  city  in  Europe  before  the  face  of  the  police 
will  not  stay  their  hands  when  they  find  themselves  masters 
of  the  situation  in  the  so-called  country  of  an  enemy.  In 
such  matters  the  officers  have  little  or  no  control,  and  disci 
pline  is  exceedingly  lax,  and  punishments  but  sparingly  in 
flicted,  the  use  of  the  lash  being  forbidden  altogether.  Fine 
as  the  men  are,  incomparably  better  armed,  clad  —  and  doubt 
less  better  fed  —  than  the  Southern  troops,  they  will  scarcely 
meet  them  man  to  man  in  the  field  with  any  chance  of  suc 
cess.  Among  the  officers  are  bar-room  keepers,  persons  little 
above  the  position  of  potmen  in  England,  grocers'  apprentices, 


A  WALK  IN  THE  COUNTRY.  341 

and  such  like  —  often  inferior  socially,  and  in  every  other  re 
spect,  to  the  men  whom  they  are  supposed  to  command. 
General  Prentiss  has  seen  service,  I  believe,  in  Mexico ;  but 
lie  appears  to  me  to  be  rather  an  ardent  politician,  embittered 
against  slaveholders  and  the  South,  than  a  judicious  or  skilful 
military  leader. 

The  principles  on  which  these  isolated  commanders  carry 
on  the  war  are  eminently  defective.  They  apply  their  whole 
minds  to  petty  expeditions,  which  go  out  from  the  camps,  at 
tack  some  Secessionist  gathering,  and  then  return,  plundering, 
as  they  go  and  come,  exasperating  enemies,  converting  neu 
trals  into  opponents,  disgusting  friends,  and  leaving  it  to  the 
Secessionists  to  boast  that  they  have  repulsed  them.  Instead 
of  encouraging  the  men  and  improving  their  discipline  these 
ill-conducted  expeditions  have  an  opposite  result. 

June  22d. — An  active  man  would  soon  go  mad  if  he  were 
confined  in  Cairo.  A  mudbank  stretching  along  the  course  of 
a  muddy  river  is  not  attractive  to  a  pedestrian  ;  and,  as  is  the 
case  in  most  of  the  Southern  cities,  there  is  no  place  round 
Cairo  where  a  man  can  stretch  his  legs,  or  take  an  honest  walk 
in  the  country.  A  walk  in  the  country  !  The  Americans 
have  not  an  idea  of  what  the  thing  means.  I  speak  now  only 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  of  the  States  through  which  I 
have  passed,  as  far  as  I  have  seen  of  them.  The  roads  are 
either  impassable  in  mud  or  knee-deep  in  dust.  There  are  no 
green  shady  lanes,  no  sheltering  groves,  no  quiet  paths  through 
green  meadows  beneath  umbrageous  trees.  Off  the  rail  there 
is  a  morass  —  or.  at  best,  a  clearing  —  full  of  stumps.  No 
temptations  to  take  a  stroll.  Down  away  South  the  planters 
ride  or  drive  ;  indeed  in  many  places  the  saunterer  by  the 
wayside  would  probably  encounter  an  alligator,  or  disturb  a 
society  of  rattlesnakes. 

To-day  I  managed  to  struggle  along  the  levee  in  a  kind  of 
sirocco,  and  visited  the  works  at  the  extremity,  which  were 
constructed  by  an  Hungarian  named  Waagner,  one  of  the 
emigres  who  came  with  Kossuth  to  the  United  States.  I  found 
him  in  a  hut  full  of  flies,  suffering  from  camp  diarrhoea,  and 
waited  on  by  Mr.  O'Leary,  who  was  formerly  petty  officer  in 
our  navy,  served  in  the  Furious  in  the  Black  Sea,  and  in  the 
Shannon  Brigade  in  India,  now  a  lieutenant  in  the  United 
States'  army,  where  I  should  say  he  feels  himself  very  much 
out  of  place.  The  Hungarian  and  the  Milesian  were,  how 
ever,  quite  agreed  about  the  utter  incompetence  of  their  mili- 


342  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

tary  friends  around  them,  and  the  great  merits  of  heavy  artil 
lery.  "  When  I  tell  them  here  the  way  poor  Sir  William 
made  us  rattle  about  them  sixty-eight-pounder  guns,  the  poor 
ignorant  creatures  laugh  at  me  —  not  one  of  them  believes  it," 
"  It  is  most  astonishing,"  says  the  colonel,  "  how  ignorant  they 
are  ;  there  is  not  one  of  these  men  who  can  trace  a  regular 
work.  Of  West  Point  men  I  speak  not,  but  of  the  people  about 
here,  and  they  will  not  learn  of  me  —  from  me  who  know." 
However,  the  works  were  well  enough,  strongly  covered,  com 
manded  both  rivers,  and  not  to  be  reduced  without  trouble. 

The  heat  drove  me  in  among  the  flies  of  the  crowded  hotel, 
where  Brigadier  Prentiss  is  planning  one  of  those  absurd  ex 
peditions  against  a  Secessionist  camp  at  Commerce,  in  the 
State  of  Missouri,  about  two  hours  steaming  up  the  river,  and 
some  twelve  or  fourteen  miles  inland.  Cairo  abounds  in  Se 
cessionists  and  spies,  and  it  is  needful  to  take  great  precautions 
lest  the  expedition  be  known  ;  but,  after  all,  stores  must  be  got 
ready,  and  put  on  board  the  steamers,  and  preparations  must 
be  made  which  cannot  be  concealed  from  the  world.  At  dusk 
700  men,  supported  by  a  six-pounder  field-piece,  were  put  on 
board  the  "  City  of  Alton,"  on  which  they  clustered  like  bees 
in  a  swarm,  and  as  the  huge  engine  labored  up  and  down 
against  the  stream,  and  the  boat  swayed  from  side  to  side,  I 
felt  a  considerable  desire  to  see  General  Prentiss  chucked  into 
the  stream  for  his  utter  recklessness  in  cramming  on  board  one 
huge  tinder-box,  all  fire  and  touchwood,  so  many  human  beings, 
who,  in  event  of  an  explosion,  or  a  shot  in  the  boiler,  or  of  a 
heavy  musketry  fire  on  the  banks,  would  have  been  converted 
into  a  great  slaughter-house.  One  small  boat  hung  from  her 
stern,  and  although  there  were  plenty  of  river  fiats  and  numer 
ous  steamers,  even  the  horses  belonging  to  the  field-piece 
were  crammed  in  among  the  men  along  the  deck. 

In  my  letter  to  Europe  I  made,  at  the  time,  some  remarks 
by  which  the  belligerents  might  have  profited,  and  which  at 
the  time  these  pages  are  reproduced  may  strike  them  as  pos 
sessing  some  value,  illustrated  as  they  have  been  by  many 
events  in  the  war.  "  A  handful  of  horsemen  would  have  been 
admirable  to  move  in  advance,  feel  the  covers,  and  make  pris 
oners  for  political  or  other  purposes  in  case  of  flight;  but  the 
Americans  persist  in  ignoring  the  use  of  horsemen,  or  at  least 
in  depreciating  it.  though  they  will  at  last  find  that  they  may 
shed  much  blood,  and  lose  much  more,  before  they  can  gain  a 
victory  without  the  aid  of  artillery  and  charges  after  the  retreat- 


A  CAMP  EMEUTE.  343 

ing  enemy.  From  the  want  of  cavalry,  I  suppose  it  is,  the 
unmilitary  practice  of  '  scouting,'  as  it  is  called  here,  has  arisen. 
It  is  all  very  well  in  the  days  of  Indian  wars  for  footmen  to 
creep  about  in  the  bushes,  and  shoot  or  be  shot  by  sentries  and 
pickets  ;  but  no  civilized  war  recognizes  such  means  of  annoy 
ance  as  firing  upon  sentinels,  unless  in  case  of  an  actual  ad 
vance  or  feigned  attack  on  the  line.  No  camp  can  be  safe 
without  cavalry  videttes  and  pickets ;  for  the  enemy  can  pour 
in  impetuously  after  the  alarm  has  been  given,  as  fast  as  the 
outlying  footmen  can  run  in.  In  feeling  the  way  for  a  column, 
cavalry  are  invaluable,  and  there  can  be  little  chance  of  am 
buscades  or  surprises  where  they  are  judiciously  employed  ; 
but  'scouting'  on  foot,  or  adventurous  private  expeditions  on 
horseback,  to  have  a  look  at  the  enemy,  can  do,  and  will  do, 
nothing  but  harm.  Every  day  the  papers  contain  accounts  of 
'  scouts '  being  killed,  and  sentries  being  picked  off.  The  latter 
is  a  very  barbarous  and  savage  practice  ;  and  the  Russian,  in 
his  most  angry  moments,  abstained  from  it.  If  any  officer 
wishes  to  obtain  information  as  to  his  enemy,  he  has  two  ways 
of  doing  it.  He  can  employ  spies,  who  carry  their  lives  in 
their  hands,  or  he  can  beat  up  their  quarters  by  a  proper  re- 
connoissance  on  his  own  responsibility,  in  which,  however,  it 
would  be  advisable  not  to  trust  his  force  to  a  railway  train." 

At  night  there  was  a  kind  of  emeute  in  camp.  The  day,  as 
I  have  said,  was  excessively  hot,  and  on  returning  to  their 
tents  and  huts  from  evening  parade  the  men  found  the  con 
tractor  who  supplies  them  with  water  had  not  filled  the  barrels  ; 
so  they  forced  the  sentries,  broke  barracks  after  hours,  mobbed 
their  officers,  and  streamed  up  to  the  hotel,  which  they  sur 
rounded,  calling  out,  "  Water,  water,"  in  chorus.  The  Gen 
eral  came  out,  and  got  up  on  a  rail :  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he, 
"  it  is  not  my  fault  you  are  without  water.  It's  your  officers 
who  are  to  blame ;  not  me."  ("  Groans  for  the  Quartermas 
ter,"  from  the  men.)  "  If  it  is  the  fault  of  the  contractor,  I'll 
see  that  he  is  punished.  I'll  take  steps  at  once  to  see  that  the 
matter  is  remedied.  And  now,  gentlemen,  I  hope  you'll  go 
back  to  your  quarters;"  and  the  gentlemen  took  it  into  their 
heads  very  good-humoredly  to  obey  the  suggestion,  fell  in,  and 
inarched  back  two  deep  to  their  huts. 

As  the  General  was  smoking  his  cigar  before  going  to  bed, 
I  asked  him  why  the  officers  had  not  more  control  over  the 
men.  "  Well,"  said  he,  "  the  officers  are  to  blame  for  all  this. 
The  truth  is,  the  term  for  which  these  volunteers  enlisted  is 
drawing  to  a  close ;  and  they  have  not  as  yet  enrolled  them- 


344  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

selves  in  the  United  States  army.  They  are  merely  volun 
teer  regiments  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  If  they  were  dis 
pleased  with  anything,  therefore,  they  might  refuse  to  enter  the 
service  or  to  take  fresh  engagements  ;  and  the  officers  would 
find  themselves  suddenly  left  without  any  men ;  they  therefore 
curry  favor  with  the  privates,  many  of  them,  too,  having  an  eye 
to  the  votes  of  the  men  when  the  elections  of  officers  in  the  new 
regiments  are  to  take  place." 

The  contractors  have  commenced  plunder  on  a  gigantic 
scale ;  and  their  influence  with  the  authorities  of  the  State  is 
so  powerful,  there  is  little  chance  of  punishing  them.  Besides, 
it  is  not  considered  expedient  to  deter  contractors,  hy  too  scru 
pulous  an  exactitude,  in  coming  forward  at  such  a  trying 
period  ;  and  the  Quartermaster's  department,  which  ought  to 
be  the  most  perfect,  considering  the  number  of  persons  con 
nected  with  transport  and  carriage,  is  in  a  most  disgraceful  and 
inefficient  condition.  I  told  the  General  that  one  of  the 
Southern  leaders  proposed  to  hang  any  contractor  who  was 
found  out  in  cheating  the  men,  and  that  the  press  cordially  ap 
proved  of  the  suggestion.  "  I  am  afraid,"  said  he,  if  any  such 
proposal  was  carried  out  here,  there  would  scarcely  be  a  con 
tractor  left  throughout  the  States."  Equal  ignorance  is  shown 
by  the  medical  authorities  of  the  requirements  of  an  army. 
There  is  not  an  ambulance  or  cacolet  of  any  kind  attached  to 
this  camp  ;  and,  as  far  as  I  could  see,  not  even  a  litter  was 
sent  on  board  the  steamer  which  has  started  with  the  ex 
pedition. 

Although  there  has  scarcely  been  a  fought  field  or  anything 
more  serious  than  the  miserable  skirmishes  of  Shenck  and 
Butler,  the  pressure  of  war  has  already  told  upon  the  people. 
The  Cairo  paper  makes  an  urgent  appeal  to  the  authorities  to 
relieve  the  distress  and  pauperism  which  the  sudden  interrup 
tion  of  trade  has  brought  upon  so  many  respectable  citizens. 
And  when  I  was  at  Memphis  the  other  day,  I  observed  a  pub 
lic  notice  in  the  journals,  that  the  magistrates  of  the  city  would 
issue  orders  for  money  to  families  left  in  distress  by  the  enrol 
ment  of  the  male  members  for  military  service.  When 
General  Scott,  sorely  against  his  will,  was  urged  to  make 
preparations  for  an  armed  invasion  of  the  seceded  States  in 
case  it  became  necessary,  he  said  it  would  need  some  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  men  and  many  millions  of  money  to  effect  that 
object.  Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Chase,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  laughed 
pleasantly  at  this  exaggeration,  but  they  have  begun  to  find  by 
this  time  the  old  general  was  not  quite  so  much  in  the  wrong. 


SENTRY  DUTY.  345 

In  reference  to  the  discipline  maintained  in  the  camp,  I  must 
admit  that  proper  precautions  are  used  to  prevent  spies  entering 
the  lines.  The  sentries  are  posted  closely  and  permit  no  one 
to  go  in  without  a  pass  in  the  day  and  a  countersign  at  night. 
A  conversation  with  General  Prentiss  in  the  front  of  the  hotel 
was  interrupted  this  evening  by  an  Irishman,  who  ran  past  us 
towards  the  camp,  hotly  pursued  by  two  policemen.  The  sen 
try  on  duty  at  the  point  of  the  lines  close  to  us  brought  him  up 
by  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  "  Who  goes  tere?"  "  A  friend, 
shure  your  honor  ;  I'm  a  friend."  "  Advance  three  paces  and 
give  the  countersign."  "  I  don't  know  it,  I  tell  you.  Let  me 
in,  let  me  in."  But  the  German  was  resolute,  and  the  police 
men  now  coming  up  in  hot  pursuit,  seized  the  culprit,  who 
resisted  violently,  till  General  Prentiss  rose  from  his  chair  and 
ordered  the  guard,  who  had  turned  out,  to  make  a  prisoner  of 
the  soldier  and  hand  him  over  to  the  civil  power,  for  which  the 
man  seemed  to  be  most  deeply  grateful.  As  the  policemen 
were  walking  him  off,  he  exclaimed,  "  Be  quiet  wid  ye,  till  I 
spake  a  word  to  the  Giniral,"  and  then  bowing  and  chuckling 
with  drunken  gravity,  he  said,  "  an'  indeed,  Giniral,  I'm  much 
obleeged  to  ye  altogither  for  this  kindness.  Long  life  to  ye. 
We've  got  the  better  of  that  dirty  German.  Hoora'  for  Giniral 
Prentiss."  He  preferred  a  chance  of  more  whiskey  in  the  police 
office  and  a  light  punishment  to  the  work  in  camp  and  a  heavy 
drill  in  the  morning.  An  officer  who  was  challenged  by  a  sen 
try  the  other  evening,  asked  him,  "  Do  you  know  the  counter 
sign  yourself?"  "  No,  sir,  it's  not  nine  o'clock,  and  they  have 
not  given  it  out  yet."  Another  sentry  stopped  a  man  be 
cause  he  did  not  know  the  countersign.  The  fellow  said,  "  I 
dare  say  you  don't  know  it  yourself."  "  That's  a  lie,"  he  ex 
claimed  ;  "  it's  Plattsburgh."  "  Plattsburgh  it  is,  sure  enough," 
said  the  other,  and  walked  on  without  further  parley. 

The  Americans,  Irish,  and  Germans,  do  not  always  coin 
cide  in  the  phonetic  value  of  each  letter  in  the  passwords,  and 
several  difficulties  have  occurred  in  consequence.  An  incau 
tious  approach  towards  the  posts  at  night  is  attended  with 
risk  ;  for  the  raw  sentries  are  very  quick  on  the  trigger. 
More  fatal  and  serious  injuries  have  been  inflicted  on  the 
Federals  by  themselves  than  by  the  enemy.  "  I  declare  to 
you,  sir,  the  way  the  boys  touched  off  their  irons  at  me  going 
home  to  my  camp  last  night,  was  just  like  a  running  fight 
with  the  Ingins.  I  was  a  little  '  tight,'  and  didn't  mind  it  a 
cuss." 


CHAPTER   XLI. 

Impending  battle  —  By  railway  to  Chicago  —  Northern  enlightenment 
—  Mound  City  —  "Cotton  is  King"  —  Land  in  the  States  — 
Dead  level  of  American  society  —  Return  into  the  Union  —  Amer 
ican  homes  —  Across  the  Prairie — White  laborers  —  New  pil 
lager —  Lake  Michigan. 

June  23d.  —  The  latest  information  which  I  received  to 
day  is  of  a  nature  to  hasten  my  departure  for  Washington  ; 
it  can  no  longer  be  doubted  that  a  battle  between  the  two 
armies  assembled  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  capital  is  immi 
nent.  The  vague  hope  which  from  time  to  time  I  have  enter 
tained  of  being  able  to  visit  Richmond  before  I  finally  take  up 
my  quarters  with  the  only  army  from  which  I  can  communicate 
regularly  with  Europe  has  now  vanished. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  evening  I  started  by  the  train  on  the 
famous  Central  Illinois  line  from  Cairo  to  Chicago. 

The  carriages  were  tolerably  well  filled  with  soldiers,  and 
in  addition  to  them  there  were  a  few  unfortunate  women, 
undergoing  deportation  to  some  less  moral  neighborhood. 
Neither  the  look,  language,  nor  manners  of  my  fellow-passen 
gers  inspired  me  with  an  exalted  notion  of  the  intelligence, 
comfort,  and  respectability  of  the  people  which  are  so  much 
vaunted  by  Mr.  Seward  and  American  journals,  and  which, 
though  truly  attributed,  no  doubt,  to  the  people  of  the  New 
England  States,  cannot  be  affirmed  with  equal  justice  to  belong 
to  all  the  other  components  of  the  Union. 

As  the  Southerners  say,  their  negroes  are  the  happiest 
people  on  the  earth,  so  the  Northerners  boast,  "  We  are  the 
most  enlightened  nation  in  the  world."  The  soldiers  in  the 
train  were  intelligent  enough  to  think  they  ought  not  to  be 
kept  without  pay,  and  free  enough  to  say  so.  The  soldiers 
abused  Cairo  roundly,  and  indeed  it  is  wonderful  if  the  peo 
ple  can  live  on  any  food  but  quinine.  However,  speculators, 
looking  to  its  natural  advantages  as  the  point  where  the  two 
great  rivers  join,  bespeak  for  Cairo  a  magnificent  and  prosper 
ous  future.  The  present  is  not  promising. 


MOUND   CITY. —  COTTON  IS   KING.  347 

Leaving  the  shanties,  which  face  the  levees,  and  some  poor 
wooden  houses  with  a  short  vista  of  cross  streets  partially 
flooded  at  right  angles  to  them,  the  rail  suddenly  plunges  into 
an  unmistakable  swamp,  where  a  forest  of  dead  trees  wave 
their  ghastly,  leafless  arms  over  their  buried  trunks,  like 
plumes  over  a  hearse  —  a  cheerless,  miserable  place,  sacred  to 
the  ague  and  fever.  This  occurs  close  to  the  cleared  space 
on  which  the  city  is  to  stand,  —  when  it  is  finished  —  and  the 
rail,  which  runs  on  the  top  of  the  embankment  or  levee,  here 
takes  to  the  trestle,  and  is  borne  over  the  water  on  the  usual 
timber  frame-work. 

"  Mound  City,"  which  is  the  first  station,  is  composed  of  a 
mere  heap  of  earth,  like  a  ruined  brickkiln,  which  rises  to 
some  height  and  is  covered  with  fine  white  oaks,  beneath 
.which  are  a  few  log  huts  and  hovels,  giving  the  place  its 
proud  name.  Tents  were  pitched  on  the  mound  side,  from 
which  wild-looking  banditti  sort  of  men,  with  arms,  emerged 
as  the  train  stopped.  "  I've  been  pretty  well  over  Europe," 
said  a  meditative  voice  beside  me,  "  and  I've  seen  the  despotic 
armies  of  the  old  world,  but  I  don't  think  they  equal  that  set 
of  boys."  The  question  was  not  worth  arguing  —  the  boys 
were  in  fact  very  "  weedy,"  "  splinter-shinned  chaps,"  as  an 
other  critic  insisted. 

There  were  some  settlers  in  the  woods  around  Mound  City, 
and  a  jolly-looking,  corpulent  man,  who  introduced  himself 
as  one  of  the  officers  of  the  land  department  of  the  Central 
Illinois  railroad,  described  them  as  awful  warnings  to  the 
emigrants  not  to  stick  in  the  south  part  of  Illinois.  It  was 
suggestive  to  find  that  a  very  genuine  John  Bull,  "  located," 
as  they  say  in  the  States  for  many  years,  had  as  much  aver 
sion  to  the  principles  of  the  abolitionists  as  if  he  had  been 
born  a  Southern  planter.  Another  countryman  of  his  and 
mine,  steward  on  board  the  steamer  to  Cairo,  eagerly  asked 
me  what  I  thought  of  the  quarrel,  and  which  side  I  wou^d 
back.  I  declined  to  say  more  than  I  thought  the  North  pos 
sessed  very  great  superiority  of  means  if  the  conflict  were  to 
be  fought  on  the  same  terms.  Whereupon  my  Saxon  friend 
exclaimed,  "  all  the  Northern  States  and  all  the  power  of  the 
world  can't  beat  the  South  ;  and  why  ?  —  because  the  South 
has  got  cotton,  and  cotton  is  king." 

The  Central  Illinois  officer  did  not  suggest  the  propriety  of 
purchasing  lots,  but  he  did  intimate  I  would  be  doing  service 
if  I  informed  the  world  at  large,  they  could  get  excellent  land, 


348  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

at  sums  varying  from  ten  to  twenty-five  dollars  an  acre.  In 
America  a  man's  income  is  represented  by  capitalizing  all  that 
he  is  worth,  and  whereas  in  England  we  say  a  man  has  so 
much  a  year,  the  Americans,  in  representing  his  value,  ob 
serve  that  he  is  worth  so  many  dollars,  by  which  they  mean 
that  all  he  has  in  the  world  would  realize  the  amount. 

It  sounds  very  well  to  an  Irish  tenant  farmer,  an  English 
cottier,  or  a  cultivator  in  the  Lothians,  to  hear  that  he  can  get 
land  at  the  rate  of  from  £'2  to  £5  per  acre,  to  be  his  forever, 
liable  only  to  state  taxes  ;  but  when  he  comes  to  see  a  paral 
lelogram  marked  upon  the  map  as  "  good  soil,  of  unfathom 
able  richness,"  and  finds  in  effect  that  he  must  cut  down  trees, 
eradicate  stumps,  drain  off  water,  build  a  house,  struggle  for 
high-priced  labor,  and  contend  with  imperfect  roads,  the  want 
of  many  things  to  which  he  has  been  accustomed  in  the  old 
country,  the  land  may  not  appear  to  him  such  a  bargain.  In 
the  wooded  districts  he  has,  indeed  a  sufficiency  of  fuel  as  long 
as  trees  and  stumps  last,  but  they  are,  of  course,  great  impedi 
ments  to  tillage.  If  he  goes  to  the  prairie  he  finds  that  fuel 
is  scarce  and  water  by  no  means  wholesome. 

When  we  left  this  swamp  and  forest,  and  came  out  after  a 
run  of  many  miles  on  the  clear  lands  which  abut  upon  the 
prairie,  large  fields  of  corn  lay  around  us,  which  bore  a  pecul 
iarly  blighted  and  harassed  look.  These  fields  were  suffering 
from  the  ravages  of  an  insect  called  the  "  army  worm,"  almost 
as  destructive  to  corn  and  crops  as  the  locust-like  hordes  of 
North  and  South,  which  are  vying  with  each  other  in  laying 
waste  the  fields  of  Virginia.  Night  was  falling  as  the  train 
rattled  out  into  the  wild,  flat  sea  of  waving  grass,  dotted  by 
patch-like  Indian  corn  enclosures  ;  but  halts  at  such  places  as 
Jonesburgh  and  Cobden,  enabled  us  to  see  that  these  settle 
ments  in  Illinois  were  neither  very  flourishing  nor  very  civil 
ized. 

•  There  is  a  level  modicum  of  comfort,  which  may  be  con 
sistent  with  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number,  but 
which  makes  the  standard  of  the  highest  in  point  of  well-being 
very  low  indeed.  I  own,  that  to  me,  it  would  be  more  agree 
able  to  see  a  flourishing  community  placed  on  a  high  level  in 
all  that  relates  to  the  comfort  and  social  status  of  all  its  mem 
bers  than  to  recognize  the  old  types  of  European  civilization, 
which  place  the  castle  on  the  hill,  surround  its  outer  walls 
with  the  mansion  of  doctor  and  lawyer,  and  drive  the  people 
into  obscure  hovels  outside.  But  then  one  must  confess  that 


WESTERN  TOWNS.  349 

there  are  in  the  castle  some  elevating  tendencies  which  cannot 
be  found  in  the  uniform  level  of  citizen  equality.  There  are 
traditions  of  nobility  and  noble  deeds  in  the  family ;  there  are 
paintings  on  the  walls  ;  the  library  is  stored  with  valuable 
knowledge,  and  from  its  precincts  are  derived  the  lessons  not 
yet  unlearned  in  Europe,  that  though  man  may  be  equal,  the 
condition  of  men  must  vary  as  the  accidents  of  life  or  the 
effects  of  individual  character,  called  fortune,  may  determine. 

The  towns  of  Jonesburgh  and  Cobden  have  their  little  tea 
pot-looking  churches  and  meeting-houses,  their  lager-bier  sa 
loons,  their  restaurants,  their  small  libraries,  institutes,  and 
reading  rooms,  and  no  doubt  they  have  also  their  political 
cliques,  social  distinctions  and  favoritisms ;  but  it  requires, 
nevertheless,  little  sagacity  to  perceive  that  the  highest  of  the 
bourgeois  who  leads  the  mass  at  meeting  and  prayer,  has  but 
little  to  distinguish  him  from  the  very  lowest  member  of  the 
same  body  politic.  Cobden,  for  example,  has  no  less  than  four 
drinking  saloons,  all  on  the  line  of  rail,  and  no  doubt  the  high 
est  citizen  in  the  place  frequents  some  one  or  other  of  them, 
and  meets  there  the  worst  rowdy  in  the  place.  Even  though 
they  do  carry  a  vote  for  each  adult  man,  "  locations "  here 
would  not  appear  very  enviable  in  the  eyes  of  the.  most  miser 
able  Dorsetshire  small  farmer  ever  ferreted  out  by  "  S. 
G.  O." 

A  considerable  number  of  towns,  formed  by  accretions  of 
small  stores  and  drinking  places,  called  magazines,  round  the 
original  shed  wherein  live  the  station  master  and  his  assistants, 
mark  the  course  of  the  railway.  Some  are  important  enough 
to  possess  a  bank,  which  is  generally  represented  by  a  wooden 
hut,  with  a  large  board  nailed  in  front,  bearing  the  names  of 
the  president  and  cashier,  and  announcing  the  success  and 
liberality  of  the  management.  The  stores  are  also  decorated 
with  large  signs,  recommending  the  names  of  the  owners  to 
the  attention  of  the  public,  and  over  all  of  them  is  to  be  seen 
the  significant  announcement,  "  Cash  for  produce." 

At  Carbondale  there  was  no  coal  at  all  to  be  found,  but 
several  miles  farther  to  the  north,  at  a  place  called  Dugoine, 
a  h'eld  of  bituminous  deposit  crops  out,  which  is  sold  at  the 
pit's  mouth  for  one  dollar  twenty-five  cents,  or  about  5s.  2d. 
a  ton.  Darkness  and  night  fell  as  I  was  noting  such  meagre 
particulars  of  the  new  district  as  could  be  learned  out  of  the 
window  of  a  railway  carriage  ;  and  finally  with  a  delicious 
sensation  of  cool  night  air  creeping  in  through  the  windows, 


350  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

the  first  I  had  experienced  for  many  a  long  day,  we  made 
ourselves  up  for  repose,  and  were  borne  steadily,  if  not  rapid 
ly,  through  the  great  prairie,  having  halted  for  tea  at  the 
comfortable  refreshment  rooms  of  Centralia. 

There  were  no  physical  signs  to  mark  the  transition  from 
the  land  of  the  Secessionist  to  Union-loving  soil.  Until  the 
troops  were  quartered  there,  Cairo  was  for  Secession,  and 
Southern  Illinois  is  supposed  to  be  deeply  tainted  with  disaf 
fection  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  Placards  on  which  were  printed  the 
words,  "  Vote  for  Lincoln  and  Harnlin,  for  Union  and  Free 
dom,"  and  the  old  battle-cry  of  the  last  election,  still  cling  to 
the  wooden  walls  of  the  groceries,  often  accompanied  by  bitter 
words  or  offensive  additions. 

One  of  my  friends  argues  that  as  slavery  is  at  the  base  of 
Secession,  it  follows  that  States  or  portions  of  States  will  be 
disposed  to  join  the  Confederates  or  the  Federalists,  just  as 
the  climate  may  be  favorable  or  adverse  to  the  growth  of 
slave  produce.  Thus  in  the  mountainous  parts  of  the  Border 
States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  in  the  north-western  part 
of  Virginia,  vulgarly  called  the  pan-handle,  and  in  the  pine 
woods  of  North  Carolina,  where  white  men  can  work  at  the 
rosin  and  naval  store  manufactories,  there  is  a  decided  feeling 
in  favor  of  the  Union  ;  in  fact,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  iso 
thermal  lines.  It  would  be  very  wrong  to  judge  of  the  con 
dition  of  a  people  from  the  windows  of  a  railway  carriage, 
but  the  external  aspect  of  the  settlements  along  the  line,  far 
superior  to  that  of  slave  hamlets,  does  not  equal  my  ex 
pectations.  We  all  know  the  aspect  of  a  wood  in  a  gentle 
man's  park ;  which  is  submitting  to  the  axe,  and  has  been  par 
tially  cleared,  how  raw  and  bleak  the  stumps  look,  and  how 
dreary  is  the  naked  land  not  yet  turned  into  arable.  Take 
such  a  patch,  and  fancy  four  or  five  houses  made  of  pine 
planks,  sometimes  not  painted,  lighted  by  windows  in  which 
there  is,  or  has  been,  glass,  each  guarded  by  a  paling  around 
a  piece  of  vegetable  garden,  a  pig  house,  and  poultry  box  ; 
let  one  be  a  grocery,  which  means  a  whiskey  shop,  another 
the  post-office,  and  a  third  the  store  where  "  cash  is  given  for 
produce."  Multiply  these  groups,  if  you  desire  a  larger  set 
tlement,  and  place  a  wooden  church  with  a  Brobdignag  spire 
and  Lilliputian  body  out  in  a  waste,  to  be  approached  only  by 
a  causeway  of  planks  ;  before  each  grocery  let  there  be  a 
gathering  of  tall  men  in  sombre  clothing,  of  whom  the  ma 
jority  have  small  newspapers,  and  all  of  whom  are  chewing 


PRAIRIE  SCENES.  351 

tobacco ;  near  the  stores  let  there  be  some  light-wheeled  carts 
and  ragged  horses,  around  which  are  knots  of  unmistakably 
German  women ;  then  see  the  deep  tracks  which  lead  off  to 
similar  settlements  in  the  forest  or  prairie,  and  you  have  a 
notion,  if  your  imagination  is  strong  enough,  of  one  of  these 
civilizing  centres  which  the  Americans  assert  to  be  the  homes 
of  the  most  cultivated  and  intelligent  communities  in  the 
world. 

Next  morning,  just  at  dawn,  I  woke  up  and  got  out  on  the 
platform  of  the  carriage,  which  is  the  favorite  resort  of 
smokers  and  their  antitheses,  those  who  love  pure  fresh  air, 
notwithstanding  the  printed  caution,  "  It  is  dangerous  to  stand 
on  the  platform ; "  and  under  the  eye  of  early  morn  saw 
spread  around  a  flat  sealike  expanse,  not  yet  warmed  into 
color  and  life  by  the  sun.  The  line  was  no  longer  guarded 
from  daring  Secessionists  by  soldiers'  outposts,  and  small 
camps  had  disappeared.  The  train  sped  through  the  centre 
of  the  great  verdant  circle  as  a  ship  through  the  sea,  leaving 
the  rigid  iron  wake  behind  it  tapering  to  a  point  at  the  ho 
rizon  and  as  the  light  spread  over  it,  the  surface  of  the  crisp 
ing  corn  waved  in  broad  undulations  beneath  the  breeze  from 
east  to  west.  This  is  the  prairie  indeed.  Hereabouts  it  u 
covered  with  the  finest  crops,  some  already  cut  and  stacked. 
Looking  around  one  could  see  church  spires  rising  in  the 
distance  from  the  white  patches  of  houses,  and  by  degrees 
the  tracks  across  the  fertile  waste  became  apparent,  and  then 
carts  and  horses  were  seen  toiling  through  the  rich  soil. 

A  large  species  of  partridge  or  grouse  appeared  very  abun 
dant,  and  rose  in  flocks  from  the  long  grass  at  the  side  of  the 
rail  or  from  the  rich  carpet  of  flowers  on  the  margin  of  the 
corn-fields.  They  sat  on  the  fence  almost  unmoved  by  the 
rushing  engine,  and  literally  swarmed  along  the  line.  These 
are  called  "  prairie  chickens  "  by  the  people,  and  afford  ex 
cellent  sport.  Another  bird  about  the  size  of  a  thrush,  with 
a  yellow  breast  and  a  harsh  cry,  I  learned  was  "  the  sky-lark  ;  " 
and  apropos  of  the  unmusical  creature,  I  was  very  briskly 
attacked  by  a  young  lady  patriot  for  finding  fault  with  the 
sharp  noise  it  made.  "  Oh,  my  !  And  you  not  to  know  that 
your  Shelley  loved  it  above  all  things  !  Didn't  he  write  some 
verses  —  quite  beautiful,  too,  they  are  —  to  the  sky-lark?" 
And  so  "  the  Britisher  was  dried  up,"  as  I  read  in  a  paper 
afterwards  of  a  similar  occurrence. 

At  the  little   stations   which  occur  at  every  few  miles  — 


352  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

there  are  some  forty  of  them,  at  each  of  which  the  train  stop?, 
in  365  miles  between  Cairo  and  Chicago- — the  Union  flag 
floated  in  the  air ;  but  we  had  left  all  the  circumstance  of  this 
inglorious  war  behind  us,  and  the  train  rattled  boldly  over  the 
bridges  across  the  rare  streams,  no  longer  in  danger  from  Se 
cession  hatchets.  The  swamp  had  given  place  to  the  corn 
field.  No  black  faces  were  turned  up  from  the  mowing  and 
free  white  labor  was  at  work,  and  the  type  of  the  laborers 
was  German  and  Irish. 

The  Yorkshireman  expatiated  on  the  fertility  of  the  land, 
and  on  the  advantages  it  held  out  to  the  emigrant.  But  I  ob 
served  all  the  lots  by  the  side  of  the  rail,  and  apparently  as 
far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  were  occupied.  "  Some  of  the 
very  best  land  lies  beyond  on  each  side,"  said  he.  "  Out  over 
there  in  the  fat  places  is  where  we  put  our  Englishmen."  By 
digging  deep  enough  good  water  is  always  to  be  had,  and  coal 
can  be  carried  from  the  rail,  where  it  costs  only  7s.  or  8s.  a 
ton.  Wood  there  is  little  or  none  in  the  prairies,  and  it  was 
rarely  indeed  a  clump  of  trees  could  be  detected,  or  anything 
higher  than  some  scrub  brushwood.  Those  little  communities 
which  we  passed  were  but  the  growth  of  a  few  years,  arid  as  we 
approached  the  northern  portion  of  the  line  we  could  see,  as  it 
were,  the  village  swelling  into  the  town,  and  the  town  spread 
ing  out  to  the  dimensions  of  the  city.  "  I  dare  say,  Major," 
says  one  of  the  passengers,  "  this  gentleman  never  saw  any 
thing  like  these  cities  before.  I'm  told  they've  nothing  like 
them  in  Europe  ?"  "  Bless  you,"  rejoined  the  Major,  with  a 
wink,  "just  leaving  out  London,  Edinbro',  Paris,  and  Man 
chester,  there's  nothing  on  earth  to  ekal  them."  My  friend, 
who  is  a  shrewd  fellow,  by  way  of  explanation  of  his  military 
title,  says,  "  I  was  a  major  once,  a  major  in  the  Queen's  Bays, 
but  they  would  put  troop-sergeant  before  it  them  days."  Like 
many  Englishmen  he  complains  that  the  jealousy  of  native- 
born  Americans  effectually  bars  the  way  to  political  position 
of  any  naturalized  citizen,  and  all  the  places  are  kept  by  the 
natives. 

The  scene  now  began  to  change  gradually  as  we  approached 
Chicago,  the  prairie  subsided  into  swampy  land,  and  thick 
belts  of  trees  fringed  the  horizon  ;  on  our  right  glimpses  of 
the  sea  could  be  caught  through  openings  in  the  wood  —  the 
inland  sea  on  which  stands  the  Queen  of  the  Lakes.  Michi 
gan  looks  broad  and  blue  as  the  Mediterranean.  Large  farm 
houses  stud  the  country,  and  houses  which  must  be  the  retreat 


APPROACH  TO   CHICAGO.  353 

of  merchants  and  citizens  of  means  ;  and  when  the  train, 
leaving  the  land  altogether,  dashes  out  on  a  pier  and  causeway 
built  along  the  borders  of  the  lake,  we  see  lines  of  noble 
houses,  a  fine  boulevard,  a  forest  of  masts,  huge  isolated  piles 
of  masonry,  the  famed  grain  elevators  by  which  so  many  have 
been  hoisted  to  fortune,  churches  and  public  edifices,  and  the 
apparatus  of  a  great  city ;  and  just  at  nine  o'clock  the  train 
gives  its  last  steam  shout  and  comes  to  a  standstill  in  the  spa 
cious  station  of  the  Central  Illinois  Company,  and  in  half-an- 
hour  more  I  am  in  comfortable  quarters  at  the  Richmond 
House,  where  I  find  letters  waiting  for  me,  by  which  it  ap 
pears  that  the  necessity  for  my  being  in  Washington  in  all 
haste,  no  longer  exists.  The  wary  General  who  commands 
the  army  is  aware  that  the  advance  to  Richmond,  for  which 
so  many  journals  are  clamoring,  would  be  attended  with  seri 
ous  risk  at  present,  and  the  politicians  must  be  content  to  wait 
a  little  longer. 


CHAPTER   XLII. 

Progress  of  events  —  Policy  of  Great  Britain  as  regarded  by  the  North 
—  The  American  press  and  its  comments  —  Privacy  a  luxury  — 
Chicago  —  Senator  Douglas  and  his  widow  —  American  ingrati 
tude  —  Apathy  in  volunteering  —  Colonel  Turchin's  camp. 

I  SHALL  here  briefly  recapitulate  what  has  occurred  since 
the  last  mention  of  political  events. 

In  the  first  place  the  South  has  been  developing  every  day 
greater  energy  in  widening  the  breach  between  it  and  the 
North,  and  preparing  to  fill  it  with  dead  ;  and  the  North,  so 
far  as  I  can  judge,  has  been  busy  in  raising  up  the  Union  as 
a  nationality,  and  making  out  the  crime  of  treason  from  the 
act  of  Secession.  The  South  has  been  using  conscription  in 
Virginia,  and  is  entering  upon  the  conflict  with  unsurpassable 
determination.  The  North  is  availing  itself  of  its  greater  re 
sources  and  its  foreign  vagabondage  and  destitution  to  swell 
the  ranks  of  its  volunteers,  and  boasts  of  its  enormous  armies, 
as  if  it  supposed  conscripts  well  led  do  not  fight  better  than 
volunteers  badly  officered.  Virginia  has  been  invaded  on 
three  points,  one  below  and  two  above  Washington,  and  pass 
ports  are  now  issued  on  both  sides. 

The  career  open  to  the  Southern  privateers  is  effectually 
closed  by  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's  notification  that  the  British 
Government  will  not  permit  the  cruisers  of  either  side  to  bring 
their  prizes  into  or  condemn  them  in  English  ports ;  but, 
strange  to  say,  the  Northerners  feel  indignant  against  Great 
Britain  for  an  act  which  deprives  their  enemy  of  an  enormous 
advantage,  and  which  must  reduce  their  privateering  to  the 
mere  work  of  plunder  and  destruction  on  the  high  seas.  In 
the  same  way  the  North  affects  to  consider  the  declaration  of 
neutrality,  and  the  concession  of  limited  belligerent  rights  to 
the  seceding  States,  as  deeply  injurious  and  insulting  ;  whereas 
our  course  has,  in  fact,  removed  the  greatest  difficulty  from 
the  path  of  the  Washington  Cabinet,  and  saved  us  from  in 
consistencies  and  serious  risks  in  our  course  of  action. 


THE  QUEEN'S  PROCLAMATION.  355 

It  is  commonly  said,  "  What  would  Great  Britain  have  done 
if  we  had  declared  ourselves  neutral  during  the  Canadian  re 
bellion,  or  had  conceded  limited  belligerent  rights  to  the  Se 
poys  ?  "  as  if  Canada  and  Hindostan  have  the  same  relation 
to  the  British  Crown  that  the  seceding  States  had  to  the 
Northern  S-tates.  But  if  Canada,  with  its  parliament,  judge?, 
courts  of  law,  and  its  people,  declared  it  was  independent  of 
Great  Britain ;  and  if  the  Government  of  Great  Britain, 
months  after  that  declaration  was  made  and  acted  upon,  per 
mitted  the  new  State  to  go  free,  whilst  a  large  number  of  her 
Statesmen  agreed  that  Canada  was  perfectly  right,  we  could 
find  little  fault  with  the  United  States  Government  for  issuing 
a  proclamation  of  neutrality  the  same  as  our  own,  when  after 
a  long  interval  of  quiescence  a  war  broke  out  between  the 
two  countries. 

Secession  was  an  accomplished  fact  months  before  Mr.  Lin 
coln  came  into  office,  but  we  heard  no  talk  of  rebels  and  pirates 
till  Sumter  had  fallen,  and  the  North  was  perfectly  quiescent 
—  not  only  that  —  the  people  of  wealth  in  New  York  were 
calmly  considering  the  results  of  Secession  as  an  accomplished 
fact,  and  seeking  to  make  the  best  of  it ;  nay,  more,  when  I 
arrived  in  Washington  some  members  of  the  Cabinet  were 
perfectly  ready  to  let  the  South  go. 

One  of  the  first  questions  put  to  me  by  Mr.  Chase  in  my 
first  interview  with  him,  was  whether  I  thought  a  very  inju 
rious  effect  would  be  produced  to  the  prestige  of  the  Federal 
Government  in  Kurope  if  the  Northern  States  let  the  South 
have  its  own  way,  and  told  them  to  go  in  peace.  "  For  my 
own  part,"  said  he,  "  I  should  not  be  averse  to  let  them  try  it, 
for  I  believe  they  would  soon  find  out  their  mistake."  Mr. 
Chase  may  be  finding  out  his  mistake  just  now.  When  I  left 
Kngland  the  prevalent  opinion,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  was, 
that  a  family  quarrel,  in  which  the  South  was  in  the  wrong, 
had  taken  place,  and  that  it  would  be  better  to  stand  by  and 
let  the  Government  put  forth  its  strengh  to  chastise  rebellious 
children.  But  now  we  see  the  house  is  divided  against  itself, 
and  that  the  family  are  determined  to  set  up  two  separate 
establishments.  These  remarks  occur  to  me  with  the  more 
force  because  I  see  the  New  York  papers  are  attacking  me 
because  I  described  a  cairn  in  a  sea  which  was  afterwards 
agitated  by  a  storm.  "  What  a  false  witness  is  this,"  they 
cry  ;  "  see  how  angry  and  how  vexed  is  our  Berrnoothes,  and 
yet  the  fellow  says  it  was  quite  placid." 


356  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

I  have  already  seen  so  many  statements  respecting  my  say 
ings,  my  doings,  and  rny  opinions,  in  the  American  papers, 
that  I  have  resolved  to  follow  a  general  rule,  with  few  excep 
tions  indeed,  which  prescribes  as  the  best  course  to  pursue, 
not  so  much  an  indifference  to  these  remarks  as  a  fixed  pur 
pose  to  abstain  from  the  hopeless  task  of  correcting  them. 
The  "  Quicklys  "  of  the  press  are  incorrigible.  Commerce 
may  well  be  proud  of  Chicago.  I  am  not  going  to  reiterate 
what  every  Crispin  us  from  the  old  country  has  said  again  and 
again  concerning  this  wonderful  place  —  not  one  word  of  sta 
tistics,  of  corn  elevators,  of  shipping,  or  of  the  piles  of  build 
ings  raised  from  the  foundation  by  ingenious  applications  of 
screws.  Nor  am  I  going  to  enlarge  on  the  splendid  future  of 
that  which  has  so  much  present  prosperity,  or  on  the  benefits 
to  mankind  opened  up  by  the  Illinois  Central  Railway.  It 
is  enough  to  say  that  by  the  borders  of  this  lake  there  has 
sprung  up  in  thirty  years  a  wonderful  city  of  fine  streets,  lux 
urious  hotels,  handsome  shops,  magnificent  stores,  great  ware 
houses,  extensive  quays,  capacious  docks  ;  and  that  as  long 
as  corn  holds  its  own,  and  the  mouths  of  Europe  are  open, 
and  her  hands  full,  Chicago  will  acquire  greater  importance, 
size,  and  wealth  with  every  year.  The  only  drawback,  per 
haps,  to  the  comfort  of  the  money-making  inhabitants,  and  of 
the  stranger  within  the  gates,  is  to  be  found  in  the  clouds  of 
dust  and  in  the  unpaved  streets  and  thoroughfares,  which  give 
anguish  to  horse  and  man. 

I  spent  three  days  here  writing  my  letters  and  repairing  the 
wear  and  tear  of  my  Southern  expedition  ;  and  although  it  was 
hot  enough,  the  breeze  from  the  lake  carried  health  and  vigor 
to  the  frame,  enervated  by  the  sun  of  Louisiana  and  Missis 
sippi.  No  need  now  to  wipe  the  large  drops  of  moisture  from 
the  languid  brow  lest,  they  blind  the  eyes,  nor  to  sit  in  a  state 
of  semi-clothing,  worn  out  and  exhausted,  and  tracing  with 
rnoist  hand  imperfect  characters  on  the  paper. 

I  could  not  satisfy  myself  whether  there  was,  as  I  have  been 
told,  a  peculiar  state  of  feeling  in  Chicago,  which  induced  many 
people  to  support  the  Government  of  Mr.  Lincoln  because  they 
believed  it  necessary  for  their  own  interest  to  obtain  decided 
advantages  over  the  South  in  the  field,  whilst  they  were  opposed 
totis  viribus  to  the  genius  of  emancipation  and  to  the  views  of 
the  Black  Republicans.  But  the  genius  and  eloquence  of  the 
Little  Giant  have  left  their  impress  on  the  facile  mould  of  dem 
ocratic  thought ;  and  he  who  argued  with  such  acuteness  and 


REPUBLICAN  INGRATITUDE.  357 

ability  last  March  in  Washington,  in  his  own  study,  against 
the  possibility,  or  at  least  the  constitutional  legality,  of  using 
the  national  forces,  and  the  militia  and  volunteers  of  the  North 
ern  States,  to  subjugate  the  Southern  people,  carried  away  by 
the  great  bore  which  rushed  through  the  placid  North  when 
Sumter  fell,  or  perceiving  his  inability  to  resist  its  force,  sprung 
to  the  crest  of  the  wave,  and  carried  to  excess  the  violence  of 
the  Union  reaction. 

Whilst  I  was  in  the  South  I  had  seen  his  name  in  Northern 
papers  with  sensation  headings  and  descriptions  of  his  magnifi 
cent  crusade  for  the  Union  in  the  West.  I  had  heard  his  name 
reviled  by  those  who  had  once  been  his  warm  political  allies, 
and  his  untimely  death  did  not  seerri  to  satisfy  their  hatred. 
His  old  foes  in  the  North  admired  and  applauded  the  sudden 
apostasy  of  their  eloquent  opponent,  and  were  loud  in  lamenta 
tions  over  his  loss.  Imagine,  then,  how  I  felt  when  visiting 
his  grave  at  Chicago,  seeing  his  bust  in  many  houses,  or  his 
portrait  in  all  the  shop-windows,  I  was  told  that  the  enor 
mously  wealthy  community  of  which  he  was  the  idol  were 
permitting  his  widow  to  live  in  a  state  not  far  removed  from 
penury. 

"  Senator  Douglas,  sir,"  observed  one  of  his  friends  to  me, 
"  died  of  bad  whiskey.  He  killed  himself  with  it  while  he  was 
stumping  for  the  Union  all  over  the  country."  "  Well,"  I  said, 
"  I  suppose,  sir,  the  abstraction  called  the  Union,  for  which  by 
your  own  account  he  killed  himself,  will  give  a  pension  to  his 
widow."  Virtue  is  its  own  reward,  and  so  is  patriotism,  un 
less  it  takes  the  form  of  contracts. 

As  far  as  all  considerations  of  wife,  children,  or  family  are 
concerned,  let  a  man  serve  a  decent  despot,  or  even  a  constitu 
tional  country  with  an  economizing  House  of  Commons,  if  he 
wants  anything  more  substantial  than  lip-service.  The  history 
of  the  great  men  of  America  is  full  of  instances  of  national  in 
gratitude.  They  give  more  praise  and  less  pence  to  their 
benefactors  than  any  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Wash 
ington  got  little,  though  the  plundering  scouts  who  captured 
Andre  were  well  rewarded  ;  and  the  men  who  fought  during 
the  War  of  Independence  were  long  left  in  neglect  and  poverty, 
sitting  in  sackcloth  and  ashes  at  the  doorsteps  of  the  temple  of 
liberty,  whilst  the  crowd  rushed  inside  to  worship  Plutus. 

If  a  native  of  the  British  Isles,  of  the  natural  ignorance  of 
his  own  imperfections  which  should  characterize  him,  desires 
to  be  subjected  to  a  series  of  moral  shower-baths,  douches,  and 


358  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

shampooing  with  a  rough  glove,  let  him  come  to  the  United 
States.  In  Chicago  he  will  be  told  that  the  English  people 
are  fed  by  the  beneficence  of  the  United  States,  and  that  all 
the  trade  and  commerce  of  England  are  simply  directed  to  the 
one  end  of  obtaining  gold  enough  to  pay  the  Western  States 
for  the  breadstuffs  exported  for  our  population.  We  know 
what  the  South  think  of  our  dependence  on  cotton.  The  peo 
ple  of  the  East  think  they  are  striking  a  great  blow  at  their 
enemy  by  the  Morrill  tariff  and  I  was  told  by  a  patriot  in 
North  Carolina,  "  Why,  creation  !  if  you  let  the  Yankees  shut 
up  our  ports,  the  whole  of  your  darned  ships  will  go  to  rot. 
Where  will  you  get  your  naval  stores  from  ?  Why,  I  guess 
in  a  year  you  could  not  scrape  up  enough  of  tarpentine  in  the 
whole  of  your  country  for  Queen  Victoria  to  paint  her  nursery- 
door  with." 

Nearly  one  half  of  the  various  companies  enrolled  in  this 
district  are  Germans,  or  are  the  descendants  of  German  par- 
ents,  and  speak  only  the  language  of  the  old  country  ;  two- 
thirds  of  the  remainder  are  Irish,  or  of  immediate  Irish  descent ; 
but  it  is  said  that  a  grand  reserve  of  Americans  born  lies  be 
hind  this  avant  garde,  who  will  come  into  the  battle  should 
there  ever  be  need  for  their  services. 

Indeed  so  long  as  the  Northern  people  furnish  the  means  of 
paying  and  equipping  armies  perfectly  competent  to  do  their 
work,  and  equal  in  numbers  to  any  demands  made  for  men, 
they  may  rest  satisfied  with  the  accomplishment  of  that  duty, 
and  with  contributing  from  their  ranks  the  great  majority  of 
the  superior  and  even  of  the  subaltern  officers  ;  but  with  the 
South  it  is  far  different.  Their  institutions  have  repelled  im 
migration  ;  the  black  slave  has  barred  the  door  to  the  white 
free  settler.  Only  on  the  seaboard  and  in  the  large  cities  are 
German  and  Irish  to  be  found,  and  they  to  a  man  have  come 
forward  to  fight  for  the  South  ;  but  the  proportion  they  bear  to 
the  native-born  Americans  who  have  rushed  to  arms  in  de 
fence  of  their  menaced  borders,  is  of  course  far  less  than  it  is 
as  yet  to  the  number  of  Americans  in  the  Northern  States  who 
have  volunteered  to  fight  for  the  Union. 

I  was  invited  before  I  left  to  visit  the  camp  of  a  Colonel 
Turchin,  who  was  described  to  me  as  a  Russian  officer  of 
great  ability  and  experience  in  European  warfare,  in  com 
mand  of  a  regiment  consisting  of  Poles,  Hungarians,  and 
Germans,  who  were  about  to  start  for  the  seat  of  war ;  but  I 
was  only  able  to  walk  through  his  tents,  where  I  was  aston- 


UNION  COSSACKS.  359 

ished  at  the  amalgam  of  nations  that  constituted  his  battalion  ; 
though,  on  inspection,  I  am  bound  to  say  there  proved  to  be  an 
American  element  in  the  ranks  which  did  not  appear  to  have 
coalesced  with  the  bulk  of  the  rude,  and,  I  fear,  predatory  Cos 
sacks  of  the  Union.  Many  young  men  of  good  position  have 
gone  to  the  wars,  although  there  was  no  complaint,  as  in  South 
ern  cities,  that  merchants'  offices  have  been  deserted,  and  great 
establishments  left  destitute  of  clerks  and  working  hands.  In 
warlike  operations,  however,  Chicago,  with  its  communication 
open  to  the  sea,  its  access  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Mississip 
pi,  its  intercourse  with  the  marts  of  commerce  and  of  manufac 
ture,  may  be  considered  to  possess  greater  belligerent  power 
and  strength  than  the  great  city  of  New  Orleans  ;  and  there 
is  much  greater  probability  of  Chicago  sending  its  contingent 
to  attack  the  Crescent  City  than  there  is  of  the  latter  being 
able  to  despatch  a  soldier  within  five  hundred  miles  of  its 
streets. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

Niagara  —  Impression  of  the  Falls — Battle  scenes  in  the  neighbor 
hood —  A  village  of  Indians  —  General  Scott — Hostile  move 
ments  on  both  sides  —  The  Hudson  —  Military  school  at  West 
Point — Return  to  New  York — Altered  appearance  of  the  city 
—  Misery  and  suffering — Altered  state  of  public  opinion,  as  to 
the  Union  and  towards  Great  Britain. 

'AT  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  27th  I  left  Chicago 
for  Niagara,  which  was  so  temptingly  near  that  I  resolved  to 
make  a  detour  by  that  route  to  New  York.  The  line  from  the 
city  which  I  took  skirts  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Mich 
igan  for  many  miles,  and  leaving  its  borders  at  New  Buffalo, 
traverses  the  southern  portion  of  the  state  of  Michigan  by  Al 
bion  and  Jackson  to  the  town  of  Detroit,  or  the  outflow  of  Lake 
St.  Clair  into  Lake  Erie,  a  distance  of  284  miles,  which  was 
accomplished  in  about  twelve  hours.  The  most  enthusiastic 
patriot  could  not  affirm  the  country  was  interesting.  The 
names  of  the  stations  were  certainly  novel  to  a  Britisher. 
Thus  we  had  Kalumet,  Pokagon,  Dowagiac,  Kalamazoo,  Ypsi- 
lanti,  among  the  more  familiar  titles  of  Chelsea,  Marengo,  Al 
bion,  and  Parma. 

It  was  dusk  when  we  reached  the  steam  ferry-boat  at  De 
troit,  which  took  us  across  to  Windsor ;  but  through  the  dusk  I 
could  perceive  the  Union  Jack  waving  above  the  unimpressive 
little  town  which  bears  a  name  so  respected  by  British  ears. 
The  customs'  inspections  seemed  very  mild ;  and  I  was  not 
much  impressed  by  the  representative  of  the  British  crown, 
who,  with  a  brass  button  on  his  coat  and  a  very  husky  voice, 
exercised  his  powers  on  behalf  of  Her  Majesty  at  the  landing- 
place  of  Windsor.  The  officers  of  the  railway  company  re 
ceived  me  as  if  I  had  been  an  old  friend,  and  welcomed  me 
as  if  I  had  just  got  out  of  a  battle-field.  "  Well,  I  do  wonder 
them  Yankees  have  ever  let  you  come  out  alive."  "  May  I 
ask  why  ?  "  "  Oh,  because  you  have  not  been  praising  them  all 
round,  sir.  Why  even  the  Northern  chaps  get  angry  with  a 


NIAGARA  FALLS.  361 

Britisher,  as  they  call  us,  if  he  attempts  to  say  a  word  against 
those  cursed  niggers." 

It  did  not  appear  the  Americans  are  quite  so  thin-skinned, 
for  whilst  crossing  in  the  steamer  a  passage  of  arms  between 
the  Captain,  who  was  a  genuine  John  Bui!,  and  a  Michigan- 
der,  in  the  style  which  is  called  chaff  or  slang,  diverted  most 
of  the  auditors,  although  it  was  very  much  to  the  disadvan 
tage  of  the  Union  champion.  The  Michigan  man  had  threat 
ened  the  Captain  that  Canada  would  be  annexed  as  the  con 
sequence  of  our  infamous  conduct.  "  Why,  I  tell  you,"  said 
the  Captain,  "  we'd  just  draw  up  the  negro  chaps  from  our 
barbers'  shops,  and  tell  them  we'd  send  them  to  Illinois  if 
they  did  not  lick  you  ;  and  I  believe  every  creature  in  Michi 
gan,  pigs  and  all,  would  run  before  them  into  Pennsylvania. 
We  know  what  you  are  up  to,  you  and  them  Maine  chaps  ; 
but  Lor'  bless  you,  sooner  than  take  such  a  lot,  we'd  give  you 
ten  dollars  a  head  to  make  you  stay  in  your  own  country ; 
and  we  know  you  would  go  to  the  next  worst  place  before 
your  time  for  half  the  money.  The  very  Bluenoses  would 
secede  if  you  were  permitted  to  come  under  the  old  flag." 

All  night  we  travelled.  A  long  day  through  a  dreary,  ill- 
settled,  pine-wooded,  half-cleared  country,  swarming  with  mos 
quitoes  and  biting  Hies,  and  famous  for  fevers.  Just  about 
daybreak  the  train  stopped. 

"  Now,  then,"  said  an  English  voice  ;  "  now,  then,  who's  for 
Clifton  Hotel  ?  All  passengers  leave  cars  for  this  side  of  the 
Falls."  Consigning  our  baggage  to  the  commissioner  of  the 
Clifton,  my  companion,  Mr.  Ward,  and  myself  resolved  to 
walk  along  the  banks  of  the  river  to  the  hotel,  which  is  some 
two  miles  and  a  half  distant,  and  set  out  whilst  it  was  still  so 
obscure  that  the  outline  of  the  beautiful  bridge  which  springs 
so  lightly  across  the  chasm,  filled  with  furious  hurrying  waters, 
hundreds  of  feet  below,  was  visible  only  as  is  the  tracery  of 
some  cathedral  arch  through  the  dim  light  of  the  cloister. 

The  road  follows  the  course  of  the  stream,  which  whirls 
and  gurgles  in  an  Alpine  torrent,  many  times  magnified,  in  a 
deep  gorge  like  that  of  the  Tete  Noire.  As  the  rude  bellow 
of  the  steam-engine  and  the  rattle  of  the  train  proceeding  on 
its  journey  were  dying  away,  the  echoes  seemed  to  swell  into 
a  sustained,  reverberating,  hollow  sound  from  the  perpendicu 
lar  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  We  listened.  "  It  is  the 
noise  of  the  Falls,"  said  my  companion  ;  and  as  we  walked 
on  the  sound  became  louder,  filling  the  air  with  a  strange 
16 


362  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

quavering  note,  which  played  about  a  tremendous  uniform 
bass  note,  and  silencing  every  other.  Trees  closed  in  the  road 
on  the  river  side  ;  but  when  we  had  walked  a  mile  or  so,  the 
lovely  light  of  morning  spreading  with  our  steps,  suddenly 
through  an  opening  in  the  branches  there  appeared,  closing  up 
the  vista — -white,  flickering,  indistinct,  and  shroud-like  —  the 
Falls,  rushing  into  a  grave  of  black  waters,  and  uttering  that 
tremendous  cry  which  can  never  be  forgotten. 

I  have  heard  many  people  say  they  were  disappointed  with 
the  first  impression  of  Niagara.  Let  those  who  desire  to  see 
the  water-leap  in  all  its  grandeur,  approach  it  as  I  did,  and  I' 
cannot  conceive  what  their  expectations  are  if  they  do  not 
confess  the  sight  exceeded  their  highest  ideal.  I  do  not  pre 
tend  to  describe  the  sensations  or  to  endeavor  to  give  the  effect 
produced  on  me  by  the  scene  or  by  the  Falls,  then  or  subse 
quently  ;  but  I  must  say  words  can  do  no  more  than  confuse 
the  writer's  own  ideas  of  the  grandeur  of  the  sight,  and  mis 
lead  altogether  those  who  read  them.  It  is  of  no  avail  to  do 
laborious  statistics,  and  tell  us  how  many  gallons  rush  over  in 
that  down-flung  ocean  every  second,  or  how  wide  it  is,  how 
high  it  is,  how  deep  the  earth-piercing  caverns  beneath.  For 
my  own  part,  I  always  feel  the  distance  of  the  sun  to  be  insig 
nificant,  when  I  read  it  is  so  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
miles  away,  compared  with  the  feeling  of  utter  inaccessibility 
to  anything  human  which  is  caused  by  it  when  its  setting  rays 
illuminate  some  purple  ocean  studded  with  golden  islands  in 
dreamland. 

Niagara  is  rolling  its  waters  over  the  barrier.  Larger  and 
louder  it  grows  upon  us. 

"  I  hope  the  hotel  is  not  full,"  quoth  my  friend.  I  confess, 
for  the  time,  I  forgot  all  about  Niagara,  and  was  perturbed 
concerning  a  breakfastless  ramble  and  a  hunt  after  lodgings 
by  the  borders  of  the  great  river. 

But  although  Clifton  Hotel  was  full  enough,  there  was  room 
for  us,  too  ;  and  for  two  days  a  strange,  weird  kind  of  life  I 
led,  alternating  between  the  roar  of  the  cataract  outside  and 
the  din  of  politics  within  ;  for,  be  it  known,  that  at  the  Cana 
dian  side  of  the  Falls  many  Americans  of  the  Southern  States, 
who  would  not  pollute  their  footsteps  by  contact  with  the  soil 
of  Yankee-land,  were  sojourning,  and  that  merchants  and 
bankers  of  New  York  and  other  Northern  cities  had  selected 
it  as  their  summer  retreat,  and,  indeed,  with  reason  ;  for  after 
excursions  on  both  sides  of  the  Falls,  the  comparative  seclu- 


HARPIES  OF  THE  FALLS.  363 

sion  of  the  settlements  on  the  left  bank  appears  to  me  to  ren 
der  it  infinitely  preferable  to  the  Rosherville  gentism  and 
semi-rowdyism  of  the  large  American  hotels  and  settlements 
on  the  other  side. 

It  was  distressing  to  find  that  Niagara  was  surrounded  by 
the  paraphernalia  of  a  fixed  fair.  I  had  looked  forward  to  a 
certain  degree  of  solitude.  It  appeared  impossible  that  man 
could  cockneyfy  such  a  magnificent  display  of  force  and  gran 
deur  in  nature.  But,  alas  !  it  is  haunted  by  what  poor  Albert 
Smith  used  to  denominate  "  harpies."  The  hateful  race  of 
guides  infest  the  precincts  of  the  hotels,  waylay  you  in  the 
lanes,  and  prowl  about  the  unguarded  moments  of  reverie. 
There  are  miserable  little  peep-shows  and  photographers,  bird- 
stufFers,  shell-polishers,  collectors  of  crystals,  and  proprietors 
of  natural  curiosity  shops. 

There  is,  besides,  a  large  village  population.  There  is  a 
watering-side  air  about  the  people  who  walk  along  the  road 
worse  than  all  their  mills  and  factories  working  their  water- 
privileges  at  both  sides  of  the  stream.  At  the  American 
side  there  is  a  lanky,  pretentious  town,  with  big  hotels,  shops 
of  Indian  curiosities,  and  all  the  meagre  forms  of  the  bazaar 
life  reduced  to  a  minimum  of  attractiveness  which  destroy  the 
comfort  of  a  traveller  in  Switzerland.  I  had  scarcely  been 
an  hour  in  the  hotel  before  I  was  asked  to  look  at  the  Falls 
through  a  little  piece  of  colored  glass.  Next  I  was  solicited 
to  purchase  a  collection  of  muddy  photographs,  representing 
what  I  could  look  at  with  my  own  eyes  for  nothing.  Not  fin 
ally  by  any  means,  I  was  assailed  by  a  gentleman  who  was 
particularly  desirous  of  selling  me  an  enormous  pair  of  cow's- 
horns  and  a  stuffed  hawk.  Small  booths  and  peep-shows  cor 
rupt  the  very  margin  of  the  bank,  and  close  by  the  remnant 
of  the  "  Table  Rock,"  a  Jew  (who,  by  the  by,  deserves  infinite 
credit  for  the  zeal  and  energy  he  has  thrown  into  the  collec 
tions  for  his  museum),  exhibits  bottled  rattlesnakes,  stuffed 
monkeys,  Egyptian  mummies,  series  of  coins,  with  a  small 
living  menagerie  attached  to  the  shop,  in  which  articles  of 
Indian  manufacture  are  exposed  for  sale.  It  was  too  bad  to 
be  asked  to  admire  such  lusus  naturtz  as  double-headed  calves 
and  dogs  with  three  necks  by  the  banks  of  Niagara. 

As  I  said  before,  I  am  not  going  to  essay  the  impossible  or 
to  describe  the  Falls.  On  the  English  side  there  are,  inde 
pendently  of  other  attractions,  some  scenes  of  recent  historic 
interest,  for  close  to  Niagara  are  Lundy's  Lane  and  Chippewa. 


364  MY  -'DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

There  arc  few  persons  in  England  aware  of  the  exceedingly 
severe  fighting  which  characterized  the  contests  between  the 
Americans  and  the  English  and  Canadian  troops  during  the 
campaign  of  1814.  At  Chippewa,  for  example,  Major-Gen 
eral  Riall,  who,  with  2000  men,  one  howitzer,  and  two  twenty- 
four-pounders,  attacked  a  force  of  Americans  of  a  similar 
strength,  was  repulsed  with  a  loss  of  500  killed  and  wounded ; 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  25th  of  July  the  action  of  Lundy's 
Lane,  between  four  brigades  of  Americans  and  seven  field- 
pieces,  and  3100  men  of  the  British  and  seven  field-pieces, 
took  place,  in  which  the  Americans  were  worsted,  and  retired 
with  a  loss  of  854  men  and  two  guns,  whilst  the  British  lost 
878.  On  the  14th  of  August  following,  Sir  Gordon  Drum- 
mond  was  repulsed  with  a  loss  of  905  men  out  of  his  small 
force  in  an  attack  on  Fort  Erie;  and  on  the  17th  of  Septem 
ber  an  American  sortie  from  the  place  was  defeated  with  a 
loss  of  510  killed  and  wounded,  the  British  having  lost  609. 
In  effect  the  American  campaign  was  unsuccessful;  but  their 
failures  were  redeemed  by  their  successes  on  Lake  Champlain, 
and  in  the  affair  of  Plattsburg. 

There  was  more  hard  fighting  than  strategy  in  these  battles, 
and  their  results  were  not,  on  the  whole,  creditable  to  the 
military  skill  of  either  party.  They  were  sanguinary  in  pro 
portion  to  the  number  of  troops  engaged,  but  they  were  very 
petty  skirmishes  considered  in  the  light  of  contests  between 
two  great  nations  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  specific  results. 
As  England  was  engaged  in  a  great  war  in  Europe,  was  far 
removed  from  the  scene  of  operations,  was  destitute  of  steam- 
power,  whilst  America  was  fighting,  as  it  were,  on  her  own 
soil,  close  at  hand,  with  a  full  opportunity  of  putting  forth  all 
her  strength,  the  complete  defeat  of  the  American  invasion  of 
Canada  was  more  honorable  to  our  arms  than  the  successes 
which  the  Americans  achieved  in  resisting  aggressive  demon 
strations. 

In  the  great  hotel  of  Clifton  we  had  every  day  a  little  war 

of  our  own,  for  there  were  but  why  should  I  mention 

names  ?  Has  not  government  its  bastiles  ?  There  were  in 
effect  men,  and  women  too,  who  regarded  the  people  of  the 
Northern  States  and  the  government  they  had  selected  very 
much  as  the  men  of  '98  looked  upon  the  government  and 
people  of  England ;  but  withal  these  strong  Southerners  were 
not  very  favorable  to  a  country  which  they  regarded  as  the 
natural  ally  of  the  abolitionists,  simply  because  it  had  resolved 
to  be  neutral. 


LIFE  AT  NIAGARA.  365 

On  the  Canadian  side  these  rebels  were  secure.  British 
authority  was  embodied  in  a  respectable  old  Scottish  gentle 
man,  whose  duty  it  was  to  prevent  smuggling  across  the  boil 
ing  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  who  performed  it  with 
zeal  and  diligence  worthy  of  a  higher  post.  There  was  in 
deed  a  withered  triumphal  arch  which  stood  over  the  spot 
where  the  young  Prince  of  our  royal  house  had  passed  on  his 
way  to  the  Table  Rock,  but  beyond  these  signs  and  tokens 
there  was  nothing  to  distinguish  the  American  from  the  Brit 
ish  side,  except  the  greater  size  and  activity  of  the  settlements 
upon  the  right  bank.  There  is  no  power  in  nature,  according 
to  great  engineers,  which  cannot  be  forced  to  succumb  to  the 
influence  of  money.  The  American  papers  actually  announce 
that  "  Niagara  is  to  be  sold ; "  the  proprietors  of  the  land 
upon  their  side  of  the  water  have  resolved  to  sell  their  water 
privileges !  A  capitalist  could  render  the  islands  the  most 
beautifully  attractive  places  in  the  world. 

Life  at  Niagara  is  like  that  at  most  watering-places,  though 
it  is  a  desecration  to  apply  such  a  term  to  the  Falls ;  and 
there  is  no  bathing  there,  except  that  which  is  confined  to  the 
precincts  of  the  hotels  and  to  the  ingenious  establishment  on 
the  American  side,  which  permits  one  to  enjoy  the  full  rush 
of  the  current  in  covered  rooms  with  sides  pierced,  to  let  it 
come  through  with  undiminished  force  and  with  perfect  security 
to  the  bather.  There  are  drives  and  pic-nics,  and  mild  ex 
cursions  to  obscure  places  in  the  neighborhood,  where  only 
the  roar  of  the  Falls  gives  an  idea  of  their  presence.  The 
rambles  about  the  islands,  and  the  views  of  the  boiling  rapids 
above  them,  are  delightful ;  but  I  am  glad  to  hear  from  one 
of  the  guides  that  the  great  excitement  of  seeing  a  man  and 
boat  carried  over  occurs  but  rarely.  Every  year,  however, 
hapless  creatures  crossing  from  one  shore  to  the  other,  by 
some  error  of  judgment  or  miscalculation  of  strength,  or 
malign  influence,  are  swept  away  into  the  rapids,  and  then, 
notwithstanding  the  wonderful  rescues  effected  by  the  Amer 
ican  blacksmith  and  unwonted  kindnesses  of  fortune,  there  is 
little  chance  of  saving  body  corporate  or  incorporate  from  the 
headlong  swoop  to  destruction. 

Next  to  the  purveyors  of  curiosities  and  hotel-keepers,  the 
Indians,  who  live  in  a  village  at  some  distance  from  Niagara, 
reap  the  largest  profit  from  the  crowds  of  visitors  who  repair 
annually  to  the  Falls,  They  are  a  harmless  and  by  no  means 
elevated  race  of  semi-civilized  savages,  whose  energies  are. 


366  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

expended  on  whiskey,  feather  fans,  bark  canoes,  ornamental 
moccasons,  and  carved  pipe-stems.  I  had  arranged  for  an  ex 
cursion  to  see  them  in  their  wigwams  one  morning,  when  the 
news  was  brought  to  me  that  General  Scott  had  ordered,  or 
been  forced  to  order  the  advance  of  the  Federal  troops  en 
camped  in  front  of  Washington,  under  the  command  of  Mc 
Dowell,  against  the  Confederates,  commanded  by  Beauregard, 
who  was  described  as  occupying  a  most  formidable  position, 
covered  with  entrenchments  and  batteries  in  front  of  a  ridge 
of  hills,  through  which  the  railway  passes  to  Richmond. 

The  New  York  papers  represent  the  Federal  army  to  be  of 
some  grand  indefinite  strength,  varying  from  60,000  to  120,000 
men,  full  of  fight,  admirably  equipped,  well  disciplined,  and 
provided  with  an  overwhelming  force  of  artillery.  General 
Scott,  I  am  very  well  assured,  did  not  feel  such  confidence  in 
the  result  of  an  invasion  of  Virginia,  that  he  would  hurry  raw 
levies  and  a  rabble  of  regiments  to  undertake  a  most  arduous 
military  operation. 

The  day  I  was  introduced  to  the  General  he  was  seated  at 
a  table  in  the  unpretending  room  which  served  as  his  boudoir 
in  the  still  humbler  house  where  he  held  his  head-quarters. 
On  the  table  before  him  were  some  plans  and  maps  of  the  har 
bor  defences  of  the  Southern  ports.  I  inferred  he  was  about 
to  organize  a  force  for  the  occupation  of  positions  along  the 
coast.  But  when  I  mentioned  my  impression  to  one  of  his 
officers,  he  said,  "  Oh,  no,  the  General  advised  that  long  ago ; 
but  he  is  now  convinced  we  are  too  late.  All  lie  can  hope, 
now,  is  to  be  allowed  time  to  prepare  a  force  for  the  field,  but 
there  are  hopes  that  some  compromise  will  yet  take  place." 

The  probabilities  of  this  compromise  have  vanished  ;  few 
entertain  them  now.  They  have  been  hanging  Secessionists 
in  Illiniois,  and  the  court-house  itself  has  been  made  the  scene 
of  Lynch  law  murder  in  Ogle  county.  Petitions,  prepared  by 
citizens  of  New  York  to  the  President,  for  a  general  conven 
tion  to  consider  a  compromise,  have  been  seized.  The  Con 
federates  have  raised  batteries  along  the  Virginian  shore  of 
the  Potomac.  General  Banks,  at  Baltimore,  has  deposed  the 
police  authorities  " proprio  motu"  in  spite  of  the  protest  of 
the  board.  Engagements  have  occurred  between  the  Federal 
steamers  and  the  Confederate  batteries  on  the  Potomac.  On 
all  points,  wherever  the  Federal  pickets  have  advanced  in  Vir 
ginia,  they  have  encountered  opposition  and  have  been  obliged 
to  halt  or  to  retire. 


WEST  POINT.  367 

As  I  stood  on  the  veranda  this  morning,  looking  for  the 
last  time  on  the  Falls,  which  were  covered  with  a  gray  mist, 
that  rose  from  the  river  and  towered  unto  the  sky  in  columns 
which  were  lost  in  the  clouds,  a  voice  beside  me  said,  "  Mr. 
Russell,  that  is  something  like  the  present  condition  of  our 
country,  mists  and  darkness  obscure  it  now,  but  we  know  the 
great  waters  are  rushing  behind,  and  will  flow  till  eternity." 
The  speaker  was  an  earnest,  thoughtful  man,  but  the  country 
of  which  he  spoke  was  the  land  of  the  South.  "  And  do  you 
think,"  said  I,  "  when  the  mists  clear  away  the  Falls  will  be  as 
full  and  as  grand  as  before  ?  "  "  Well,"  he  replied,  "  they  are 
great  as  it  is,  though  a  rock  divides  them ;  we  have  merely 
thrown  our  rock  into  the  waters,  —  they  will  meet  all  the  same 
in  the  pool  below."  A  colored  boy,  who  has  waited  on  me  at 
the  hotel,  hearing  I  was  going  away,  entreated  me  to  take  him 
on  any  terms,  which  were,  I  found,  an  advance  of  nine  dollars, 
and  twenty  dollars  a  month,  and,  as  I  heard  a  good  account  of 
him  from  the  landlord,  I  installed  the  young  man  into  my 
service.  In  the  evening  I  left  Niagara  on  my  way  to  New 
York. 

July  2d.  —  At  early  dawn  this  morning,  looking  out  of 
the  sleeping  car,  I  saw  through  the  mist  a  broad,  placid  river 
on  the  right,  and  on  the  left  high  wooded  banks  running 
sharply  into  the  stream,  against  the  base  of  which  the  rails 
were  laid.  West  Point,  which  is  celebrated  for  its  picturesque 
Fcenery,  as  much  as  for  its  military  school,  could  not  be  seen 
through  the  fog,  and  I  regretted  time  did  not  allow  me  to  stop 
and  pay  a  visit  to  the  academy.  I  was  obliged  to  content  my 
self  with  the  handiwork  of  some  of  the  ex-pupils.  The  only 
camaraderie  I  have  witnessed  in  America  exists  among  the 
West  Point  men.  It  is  to  Americans  what  our  great  public 
schools  are  to  young  Englishmen.  To  take  a  high  place  at 
West  Point  is  to  be  a  first-class  man,  or  wrangler.  The 
academy  turns  out  a  kind  of  military  aristocracy,  and  I  have 
heard  complaints  that  the  Irish  and  Germans  are  almost  com 
pletely  excluded,  because  the  nominations  to  West  Point 
are  obtained  by  political  influence ;  and  the  foreign  element, 
though  powerful  at  the  ballot-box,  has  no  enduring  strength. 
The  Murphies  and  Schmidts  seldom  succeed  in  shoving  their 
sons  into  the  American  institution.  North  and  South,  I  have 
observed,  the  old  pupils  refer  everything  military  to  West 
Point.  "  I  was  with  Beauregard  at  West  Point.  He  was 
three  above  me."  Or,  "  McDowell  and  I  were  in  the  same 


368  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

class."  An  officer  is  measured  by  what  he  did  there,  and  if 
professional  jealousies  date  from  the  state  of  common  pupilage, 
so  do  lasting  friendships.  I  heard  Beauregard,  Lawton, 
Hardee,  Bragg,  and  others,  speak  of  McDowell,  Lyon, 
McClellan,  and  other  men  of  the  academy,  as  their  names 
turned  up  in  the  Northern  papers,  evidently  judging  of  them 
by  the  old  school  standard.  The  number  of  men  who  have 
been  educated  there  greatly  exceeds  the  modest  requirements 
of  the  army.  But  there  is  likelihood  of  their  being  all  in  full 
"work  very  soon. 

At  about  nine,  A.  M.,  the  train  reached  New  York,  and  in 
driving  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Duncan,  who  accompanied  me 
from  Niagara,  the  first  thing  which  struck  me  was  the  changed 
aspect  of  the  streets.  Instead  of  peaceful  citizens,  men  in 
military  uniforms  thronged  the  pathways,  and  such  multitudes 
of  United  States  flags  floated  from  the  windows  and  roofs  of 
the  houses  as  to  convey  the  impression  that  it  was  a  great 
holiday  festival.  The  appearance  of  New  York  when  I  first 
saw  it  was  very  different.  For  one  day,  indeed,  after  my 
arrival,  there  were  men  in  uniform  to  be  seen  in  the  streets, 
but  they  disappeared  after  St.  Patrick  had  been  duly  honored, 
and  it  was  very  rarely  I  ever  saw  a  man  in  soldier's  clothes 
during  the  rest  of  my  stay.  Now,  fully  a  third  of  the  people 
carried  arms,  and  were  dressed  in  some  kind  of  martial  garb. 

The  walls  are  covered  with  placards  from  military  com 
panies  offering  inducements  to  recruits.  An  outburst  of  mili 
tary  tailors  has  taken  place  in  the  streets ;  shops  are  devoted 
to  militia  equipments ;  rifles,  pistols,  swords,  plumes,  long 
boots,  saddle,  bridle,  camp  belts,  canteens,  tents,  knapsacks, 
have  usurped  the  place  of  the  ordinary  articles  of  traffic. 
Pictures  and  engravings  —  bad,  and  very  bad  —  of  the  "bat 
tles  "  of  Big  Bethel  and  Vienna,  full  of  furious  charges,  smoke 
ind  dismembered  bodies,  have  driven  the  French  prints  out 
of  the  windows.  Innumerable  "  General  Scotts "  glower  at 
you  from  every  turn,  making  the  General  look  wiser  than  he 
or  any  man  ever  was.  Ellsworths  in  almost  equal  proportion, 
Grebles  and  Winthrops  —  the  Union  martyrs  —  and  Tompkins, 
the  temporary  hero  of  Fairfax  court-house. 

The  "  flag  of  our  country  "  is  represented  in  a  colored  en 
graving,  the  original  of  which  was  not  destitute  of  poetical 
feeling,  as  an  angry  blue  sky  through  which  meteors  fly 
streaked  by  the  winds,  whilst  between  the  red  stripes  the 
stars  just  shine  out  from  the  heavens,  the  flag-staff  being  typi- 


NEW  YORK  AROUSED.  369 

fied  by  a  forest  tree  bending  to  the  force  of  the  blast.  The 
Americans  like  this  idea  —  to  my  mind  it  is  significant  of 
bloodshed  and  disaster.  And  why  not !  What  would  become 
of  all  these  pseudo-Zouaves  who  have  come  out  like  an  erup 
tion  over  the  States,  and  are  in  no  respect,  not  even  in  their 
basgy  breeches,  like  their  great  originals,  if  this  war  were  not 
to  go  on  ?  I  thought  I  had  had  enough  of  Zouaves  in  New 
Orleans,  but  dis  aliter  visum. 

They  are  overrunning  society,  and  the  streets  here,  and  the 
dress  which  becomes  the  broad-chested,  stumpy,  short-legged 
Celt,  who  seems  specially  intended  for  it,  is  singularly  unbe 
coming  to  the  tall  and  slightly-built  American.  Songs  "  On 
to  glory,"  "  Our  country,"  new  versions  of  "  Hail  Columbia," 
which  certainly  cannot  be  considered  by  even  American  com 
placency  a  "  happy  land  "  when  its  inhabitants  are  preparing 
to  cut  each  other's  throats  ;  of  the  "  star-spangled  banner,"  are 
displayed  in  booksellers'  and  music-shop  windows,  and  patri 
otic  sentences  emblazoned  on  flags  float  from  many  houses. 
The  ridiculous  habit  of  dressing  up  children  and  young  people 
up  to  ten  and  twelve  years  of  age  as  Zouaves  and  vivandieres 
has  been  caught  up  by  the  old  people,  and  Mars  would  die 
with  laughter  if  he  saw  some  of  the  abdominous,  be-specta- 
cled  light  infantry  men  who  are  hobbling  along  the  pavement. 

There  has  been  indeed  a  change  in  New  York  ;  externally 
it  is  most  remarkable,  but  I  cannot  at  all  admit  that  the  abuse 
with  which  I  was  assailed  for  describing  the  indifference  which 
prevailed  on  my  arrival  was  in  the  least  degree  justified.  I 
was  desirous  of  learning  how  far  the  tone  of  conversation  "  in 
the  city  "  had  altered,  and  soon  after  breakfast  I  went  down 
Broadway  to  Pine  Street  and  Wall  Street.  The  street  in  all 
its  length  was  almost  draped  with  flags  —  the  warlike  charac 
ter  of  the  shops  was  intensified.  In  front  of  one  shop  window 
there  was  a  large  crowd  gazing  with  interest  at  some  object 
which  I  at  last  succeeded  in  feasting  my  eyes  upon.  A  gray 
cap  with  a  tinsel  badge  in  front,  and  the  cloth  stained  with 
blood  was  displayed,  with  the  words,  "  Cap  of  Secession  offi 
cer  killed  in  action."  On  my  way  I  observed  another  crowd 
of  women,  some  with  children  in  their  arms  standing  in  front 
of  a  large  house  and  gazing  up  earnestly  and  angrily  at  the 
windows.  I  found  they  were  wives,  mothers,  and  sisters,  and 
daughters  of  volunteers  who  had  gone  off  and  left  them  des 
titute. 

The  misery  thus  caused  has  been  so  great  that  the  citizens 
16* 


370  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

of  New  York  have  raised  a  fund  to  provide  food,  clothes,  and 
a  little  money  —  a  poor  relief,  in  fact,  for  them,  and  it  was 
plain  they  were  much  needed,  though  some  of  the  applicants 
did  not  seem 'to  belong  to  a  class  accustomed  to  seek  aid  from 
the  public.  This  already!  But  Wall  Street  and  Pine  Sireet 
are  bent  on  battle.  And  so  this  day,  hot  from  the  South  and 
impressed  with  the  firm  resolve  of  the  people,  and  finding  that 
the  North  has  been  lashing  itself  into  fury,  I  sit  down  and 
write  to  England,  on  my  return  from  the  city.  "  At  present 
dismiss  entirely  the  idea,  no  matter  how  it  may  originate,  that 
there  will  be,  or  can  be,  peace,  compromise,  union,  or  seces 
sion,  till  war  has  determined  the  issue." 

As  long  as  there  was  a  chance  that  the  struggle  might  not 
take  place,  the  merchants  of  New  York  were  silent,  fearful  of 
offending  their  Southern  friends  and  connections,  but  inflicting 
infinite  damage  on  their  own  government  and  misleading  both 
sides.  Their  sentiments,  sympathies,  and  business  bound  them 
with  the  South  ;  and,  indeed,  till  "  the  glorious  uprising  "  the 
South  believed  New  York  was  with  them,  as  might  be  cred 
ited  from  the  tone  of  some  organs  in  the  press,  and  I  remem 
ber  hearing  it  said  by  Southerners  in  Washington,  that  it  was 
very  likely  New  York  would  go  out  of  the  Union  !  When 
the  merchants,  however,  saw  the  South  was  determined  to  quit 
the  Union,  they  resolved  to  avert  the  permanent  loss  of  the 
great  profits  derived  from  their  connection  witli  the  South  by 
some  present  sacrifices.  They  rushed  to  the  platforms  —  the 
battle-cry  was  sounded  from  almost  every  pulpit — flag-rais 
ings  took  place  in  every  square,  like  the  planting  of  the  tree 
of  liberty  in  France  in  1848,  and  the  oath  was  taken  to  tram 
ple  Secession  under  foot,  and  to  quench  the  fire  of  the  South 
ern  heart  forever. 

The  change  in  manner,  in  tone,  in  argument,  is  most  re 
markable.  I  met  men  to-day  who  last  March  argued  coolly 
and  philosophically  about  the  right  of  Secession.  They  are 
now  furious  at  the  idea  of  such  wickedness  —  furious  with 
England,  because  she  does  not  deny  their  own  famous  doctrine 
of  the  sacred  right  of  insurrection.  "  We  must  maintain  our 
glorious  Union,  sir."  "  We  must  have  a  country."  "  We 
cannot  allow  two  nations  to  grow  up  on  this  Continent,  sir." 
"  We  must  possess  the  entire  control  of  the  Mississippi." 
These  "  musts,"  and  "  can'ts,"  and  "  won'ts,"  are  the  angry  ut 
terances  of  a  spirited  people  who  have  had  their  will  so  long 
that  they  at  last  believe  it  is  omnipotent.  Assuredly,  they 


IRRITATION  AGAINST  ENGLAND.  371 

will  not  have  it  over  the  South  without  a  tremendous  and 
long-sustained  contest,  in  which  they  must  put  forth  every  ex 
ertion,  and  use  all  the  resources  and  superior  means  they  so 
abundantly  possess. 

It  is  absurd  to  assert,  as  do  the  New  York  people,  to  give 
some  semblance  of  reason  to  their  sudden  outburst,  that  it  was 
caused  by  the  insult  to  the  flag  at  Sumter.  Why,  the  flag  had 
been  fired  on  long  before  Sumter  was  attacked  by  the  Charleston 
batteries !  It  had  been  torn  down  from  United  States  arsenals 
and  forts  all  over  the  South ;  and  but  for  the  accident  which 
placed  Major  Anderson  in  a  position  from  which  he  could  not 
retire,  there  would  have  been  no  bombardment  of  the  fort, 
and  it  would,  when  evacuated,  have  shared  the  fate  of  all  the 
other  Federal  works  on  the  Southern  coast.  Some  of  the  gen 
tlemen  who  are  now  so  patriotic  and  Unionistic,  were  last  March 
prepared  to  maintain  that  if  the  President  attempted  to  ree'n- 
force  Sumter  or  Pickens,  he  would  be  responsible  for  the  de 
struction  of  the  Union.  Many  journals  in  New  York  and  out 
of  it  held  the  same  doctrine. 

One  word  to  these  gentlemen.  I  am  pretty  well  satisfied 
that  if  they  had  always  spoken,  written,  and  acted  as  they  do 
now,  the  people  of  Charleston  would  not  have  attacked  Sum 
ter  so  readily.  The  abrupt  outburst  of  the  North  and  the 
demonstration  at  New  York  filled  the  South,  first- with  aston 
ishment,  and  then  with  something  like  fear,  which  was  rapidly 
fanned  into  anger  by  the  press  and  the  politicians,  as  well  as 
by  the  pride  inherent  in  slaveholders. 

I  wonder  what  Mr.  Seward  will  say  when  I  get  back  to 
Washington.  Before  I  left,  he  was  of  opinion  —  at  all  events, 
he  stated  —  that  all  the  States  would  come  back,  at  the  rate 
of  one  a  month.  The  nature  of  the  process  was  not  stated  ; 
but  we  are  told  there  are  250,000  Federal  troops  now  under 
arms,  prepared  to  try  a  new  one. 

•*  Combined  with  the  feeling  of  animosity  to  the  rebels,  there 
is,  I  perceive,  a  good  deal  of  ill-feeling  towards  Great  Britain. 
The  Southern  papers  are  so  angry  with  us  for  the  Order  in 
Council  closing  British  ports  against  privateers  and  their 
prizes,  that  they  advise  Mr.  Rust  and  Mr.  Yancey  to  leave 
Europe.  We  are  in  evil  case  between  North  and  South.  I 
met  a  reverend  doctor,  who  is  most  bitter  in  his  expressions 
towards  us ;  and  I  dare  say,  Bishop  and  General  Leonidas 
Polk,  down  South,  would  not  be  much  better  disposed.  The 
clergy  are  active  on  both  sides ;  and  their  flocks  approve  of 


372  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

their  holy  violence.  One  journal  tells,  with  much  gusto,  of  a 
blasphemous  chaplain,  a  remarkably  good  rifle  shot,  who  went 
into  one  of  the  skirmishes  lately,  and  killed  a  number  of  reb 
els  —  the  joke  being,  in  fact,  that  each  time  he  fired  and 
brought  down .  his  man,  he  exclaimed,  piously,  "  May  Heaven 
have  mercy  on  your  soul !  "  One  Father  Mooney,  who  per 
formed  the  novel  act,  for  a  clergyman,  of  "  christening  "  a  big 
gun  at  Washington  the  other  day,  wound  up  the  speech  he 
made  on  the  occasion,  by  declaring  "the  echo  of  its  voice 
would  be  sweet  music,  inviting  the  children  of  Columbia  to 
share  the  comforts  of  his  father's  home."  Can  impiety  and 
folly  and  bad  taste  go  further  ? 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

Departure  for  Washington  —  A  "servant"  —  The  American  Press 
on  the  War— Military  aspect  of  the  States  —  Philadelphia  — 
Baltimore  —  Washington  —  Lord  Lyons  —  Mr.  Sumner  —  Irrita 
tion  against  Great  Britain  —  "  Independence  "  day  —  Meeting  of 
Congress  —  General  state  of  affairs. 

July  3d.  —  Up  early,  breakfasted  at  five,  A.  si.,  and  left  my 
hospitable  host's  roof,  on  my  way  to  Washington.  The  ferry 
boat,  which  is  a  long  way  off,  starts  for  the  train  at  seven 
o'clock ;  and  so  bad  are  the  roads,  I  nearly  missed  it.  On 
hurrying  to  secure  my  place  in  the  train,  I  said  to  one  of  the 
railway  officers  :  "  If  you  see  a  colored  man  in  a  cloth  cap 
and  dark  coat  with  metal  buttons,  will  you  be  good  enough,  sir, 
to  tell  him  I'm  in  this  carriage."  "  Why  so,  sir  ?  "  "  He  is 
my  servant."  "  Servant,"  he  repeated  ;  "  your  servant !  I 
presume  you're  a  Britisher ;  and  if  he's  your  servant,  I  think 
you  may  as  well  let  him  find  you."  And  so  he  walked  away, 
delighted  with  his  cleverness,  his  civility,  and  his  rebuke  of 
an  aristocrat. 

Nearly  four  months  since  I  went  by  this  road  to  Washing 
ton.  The  change  which  has  since  occurred  is  beyond  belief. 
Men  were  then  speaking  of  place  under  Government,  of 
compromises  between  North  and  South,  and  of  peace  ;  now 
they  only  talk  of  war  and  battle.  Ever  since  I  came  out  of 
the  South,  and  could  see  the  newspapers,  I  have  been  struck 
by  the  easiness  of  the  American  people,  by  their  excessive 
credulity.  Whether  they  wish  it  or  not,  they  are  certainly 
deceived.  Not  a  day  has  passed  without  the  announcement 
that  the  Federal  troops  were  moving,  and  that  "  a  great  battle 
was  expected'"'  by  somebody  unknown,  at  some  place  or  other. 

I  could  not  help  observing  the  arrogant  tone  with  which 
writers  of  stupendous  ignorance  on  military  matters  write  of 
the  operations  which  they  think  the  Generals  should  undertake. 
They  demand  that  an  army,  which  has  neither  adequate  trans 
port,  artillery,  nor  cavalry,  shall  be  pushed  forward  to  Richmond 


374  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

to  crush  out  Secession,  and  at  the  same  time  their  columns 
teem  with  accounts  from  the  army,  which  prove  that  it  is  not 
only  ill-disciplined,  but  that  it  is  ill-provided.  A  general  outcry 
has  been  raised  against  the  war  department  and  the  contractors, 
and  it  is  openly  stated  that  Mr.  Cameron,  the  Secretary,  has 
not  clean  hands.  One  journal  denounces  the  "  swindling  and 
plunder "  which  prevail  under  his  eyes.  A  minister  who  is 
disposed  to  be  corrupt  can  be  so  with  facility  under  the  system 
of  the  United  States,  because  he  has  absolute  control  over  the 
contracts,  which  are  rising  to  an  enormous  magnitude,  as  the 
war  preparations  assume  more  formidable  dimensions.  The 
greater  part  of  the  military  stores  of  the  States  are  in  the  South 
—  arms,  ordnance,  clothing,  ammunition,  ships,  machinery,  and 
all  kinds  of  materiel  must  be  prepared  in  a  hurry. 

The  condition  in  which  the  States  present  themselves,  par 
ticularly  at  sea,  is  a  curious  commentary  on  the  offensive  and 
warlike  tone  of  their  statesmen  in  their  dealings  with  the  first 
maritime  power  of  the  world.  They  cannot  blockade  a  single 
port  effectually.  The  Confederate  steamer  Su niter  has  escaped 
to  sea  from  New  Orleans,  and  ships  run  in  and  out  of  Charleston 
almost  as  they  please.  Coming  so  recently  from  the  South,  I 
can  see  the  great  difference  which  exists  between  the  two 
races,  as  they  may  be  called,  exemplified  in  the  men  I  have 
seen,  and  those  who  are  in  the  train  going  towards  Washington. 
These  volunteers  have  none  of  the  swash-buckler  bravado, 
gallant-swaggering  air  of  the  Southern  men.  They  are  staid, 
quiet  men,  and  the  Pennsylvanians,  who  are  on  their  way  to 
join  their  regiment  in  Baltimore,  are  very  inferior  in  size  and 
strength  to  the  Tennesseans  and  Carolinians. 

The  train  is  full  of  men  in  uniform.  When  I  last  went  over 
the  line,  I  do  not  believe  there  was  a  sign  of  soldiering,  beyond 
perhaps  the  "  conductor,"  who  is  always  decribed  in  the  papers 
as  being  "gentlemanly,"  wore  his  badge.  And,  a  propos  of 
badges,  I  see  that  civilians  have  taken  to  wearing  shields  of 
metal  on  their  coats,  enamelled  with  the  stars  and  stripes,  and 
that  men  who  are  not  in  the  army  try  to  make  it  seem  they 
are  soldiers  by  affecting  military  caps  and  cloaks. 

The  country  between  Washington  and  Philadelphia  is 
destitute  of  natural  beauties,  but  it  affords  abundant  evidence 
that  it  is  inhabited  by  a  prosperous,  comfortable,  middle-class 
community.  From  every  village  church  and  from  many  houses, 
the  Union  flag  was  displayed.  Four  months  ago  not  one  was 
to  be  seen.  When  we  were  crossing  in  the  steam  ferry-boat 


OCCUPATION  OF  MARYLAND.  375 

at  Philadelphia  I  saw  some  volunteers  looking  up  and  smiling 
at  a  hatchet  which  was  over  the  cabin  door,  and  it  was  not  till 
I  saw  it  had  the  words  "States'  Rights  Fire  Axe"  painted 
along  the  handle  I  could  account  for  the  attraction.  It  would 
fare  ill  with  any  vessel  in  Southern  waters  which  displayed  an 
axe  to  the  citizens  inscribed  with  "  Down  with  States'  Rights  " 
on  it.  There  is  certainly  less  vehemence  and  bitterness  among 
the  Northerners ;  but  it  might  be  erroneous  to  suppose  there 
was  less  determination. 

Below  Philadelphia,  from  Havre-de-Grace  all  the  way  to 
Baltimore,  and  thence  on  to  Washington,  the  stations  on  the 
rail  were  guarded  by  soldiers,  as  though  an  enemy  were  ex 
pected  to  destroy  the  bridges  and  to  tear  up  the  rails.  Wooden 
bridges  and  causeways,  carried  over  piles  and  embankments, 
are  necessary,  in  consequence  of  the  nature  of  the  country  ; 
and  at  each  of  these  a  small  camp  was  formed  for  the  soldiers 
who  have  to  guard  the  approaches.  Sentinels  are  posted,  pick 
ets  thrown  out,  and  in  the  open  field  by  the  wayside  troops  are 
to  be  seen  moving,  as  though  a  battle  was  close  at  hand.  In 
one  word,  we  are  in  the  State  of  Maryland.  By  these  means 
alone  are  communications  maintained  between  the  North  and 
the  capital.  As  we  approach  Baltimore  the  number  of  sen 
tinels  and  camps  increase,  and  earthworks  have  been  thrown 
up  on  the  high  grounds  commanding  the  city.  The  display  of 
Federal  flags  from  the  public  buildings  and  some  shipping  in 
the  river  was  so  limited  as  to  contrast  strongly  with  those  sym 
bols  of  Union  sentiments  in  the  Northern  cities. 

Since  I  last  passed  through  this  city  the  streets  have  been 
a  scene  of  bloodshed.  The  conductor  of  the  car  on  which  we 
travelled  from  one  terminus  to  the  other,  along  the  street  rail 
way,  pointed  out  the  marks  of  the  bullets  on  the  walls  and  in 
the  window  frames.  "  That's  the  way  to  deal  with  the  Plug 
Uglies,"  exclaimed  he ;  a  name  given  popularly  to  the  lower 
classes  called  Rowdies  in  New  York.  "  Yes,"  said  a  fellow- 
passenger  quietly  to  me,  "  these  are  the  sentiments  which  are 
now  uttered  in  the  country  which  we  call  the  land  of  freedom, 
and  men  like  that  desire  nothing  better  than  brute  force.  There 
is  no  city  in  Europe  —  Venice,  Warsaw,  or  Rome  —  subject 
to  such  tyranny  as  Baltimore  at  this  moment.  In  this  Pratt 
Street  there  have  been  murders  as  foul  as  ever  soldiery  com 
mitted  in  the  streets  of  Paris."  Here  was  evidently  the  judi 
cial  blindness  of  a  States'  Rights  fanatic,  who  considers  the 
despatch  of  Federal  soldiers  through  the  State  of  Maryland 


376  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

without  the  permission  of  the  authorities  an  outrage  so  flagrant 
as  to  justify  the  people  in  shooting  them  down,  whilst  the  sol 
diers  become  murderers  if  they  resist.  At  the  corners  of  the 
streets  strong  guards  of  soldiers  were  posted,  and  patrols  moved 
up  and  down  the  thoroughfares.  The  inhabitants  looked  sullen 
and  sad.  A  small  war  is  waged  by  the  police  recently  ap 
pointed  by  the  Federal  authorities  against  the  women,  who 
exhibit  much  ingenuity  in  expressing  their  animosity  to  the 
stars  and  stripes  —  dressing  the  children,  and  even  dolls,  in  the 
Confederate  colors,  and  wearing  the  same  in  ribbons  and  bows. 
The  negro  population  alone  seemed  just  the  same  as  before. 

The  Secession  newspapers  of  Baltimore  have  been  sup 
pressed,  but  the  editors  contrive  nevertheless  to  show  their 
sympathies  in  the  selection  of  their  extracts.  In  to-day's  pa 
per  there  is  an  account  of  a  skirmish  in  the  West,  given  by 
one  of  the  Confederates  who  took  part  in  it,  in  which  it  is 
stated  that  the  officer  commanding  the  party  "  scalped  "  twenty- 
three  Federals.  For  the  first  time  since  I  left  the  South  I  see 
those  advertisements  headed  by  the  figure  of  a  negro  running 
with  a  bundle,  and  containing  descriptions  of  the  fugitive,  and 
the  reward  offered  for  imprisoning  him  or  her,  so  that  the  owner 
may  receive  his  property.  Among  the  insignia  enumerated 
are  scars  on  the  back  and  over  the  loins.  The  whip  is  not 
only  used  by  the  masters  and  drivers,  but  by  the  police ;  and 
in  every  report  of  petty  police  cases  sentences  of  so  many 
lashes,  and  severe  floggings  of  women  of  color  are  recorded. 

It  is  about  forty  miles  from  Baltimore  to  Washington,  and 
at  every  quarter  of  a  mile  for  the  whole  distance  a  picket  of 
soldiers  guarded  the  rails.  Camps  appeared  on  both  sides, 
larger  and  more  closely  packed  together ;  and  the  rays  of  the 
setting  sun  fell  on  countless  lines  of  tents  as  we  approached 
the  unfinished  dome  of  the  Capitol.  On  the  Virginian  side 
of  the  river,  columns  of  smoke  rising  from  the  forest  marked 
the  site  of  Federal  encampments  across  the  stream.  The  fields 
around  Washington  resounded  with  the  words  of  command 
and  tramp  of  men,  and  flashed  with  wheeling  arms.  Parks 
of  artillery  studded  the  waste  ground,  and  long  trains  of  white- 
covered  wagons  filled  up  the  open  spaces  in  the  suburbs  of 
Washington. 

To  me  all  this  was  a  wonderful  sight.  As  I  drove  up  Penn 
sylvania  Avenue  I  could  scarce  credit  that  the  busy  thorough 
fare  —  all  red,  white,  and  blue  with  flags,  filled  with  dust  from 
galloping  chargers  and  commissariat  carts ;  the  side-walks 


DANGEROUS  DESPATCHES.  377 

thronged  with  people,  of  whom  a  large  proportion  carried 
sword  or  bayonet ;  shops  full  of  life  and  activity  —  was 
the  same  as  that  through  which  I  had  driven  the  first  morning 
of  my  arrival.  Washington  now,  indeed,  is  the  capital  of  the 
United  States  ;  but  it  is  no  longer  the  scene  of  beneficent  legis 
lation  and  of  peaceful  government.  It  is  the  representative 
of  armed  force  engaged  in  war  —  menaced  whilst  in  the  very 
act  of  raising  its  arm  by  the  enemy  it  seeks  to  strike. 

To  avoid  the  tumult  of  Willard's,  I  requested  a  friend  to 
hire  apartments,  and  drove  to  a  house  in  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
close  to  the  War  Department,  where  he  had  succeeded  in  en 
gaging  a  sitting-room  about  twelve  feet  square,  and  a  bed 
room  to  correspond,  in  a  very  small  mansion,  next  door  to  a 
spirit  merchant's.  At  the  Legation  I  saw  Lord  Lyons,  and 
gave  him  a  brief  account  of  what  I  had  seen  in  the  South.  I 
was  sorry  to  observe  he  looked  rather  careworn  and  pale. 

The  relations  of  the  United  States  Government  with  Great 
Britain  have  probably  been  considerably  affected  by  Mr.  Sew- 
ard's  failure  in  his  prophecies.  As  the  Southern  Confederacy 
develops  its  power,  the  Foreign  Secretary  assumes  higher 
ground,  and  becomes  more  exacting,  and  defiant.  In  these 
hot  summer  days,  Lord  Lyons  and  the  members  of  the  Lega 
tion  dine  early,  and  enjoy  the  cool  of  the  evening  in  the  gar 
den  ;  so  after  a  while  I  took  my  leave,  and  proceeded  to  Gau- 
tier's.  On  my  way  I  met  Mr.  Sumner,  who  asked  me  for 
Southern  news  very  anxiously,  and  in  the  course  of  conversa 
tion  with  him  I  was  confirmed  in  my  impressions  that  the 
feeling  between  the  two  countries  was  not  as  friendly  as  could 
be  desired.  Lord  Lyons  had  better  means  of  knowing  what 
is  going  on  in  the  South,  by  communications  from  the  British 
Consuls  ;  but  even  he  seemed  unaware  of  facts  which  had 
occurred  whilst  I  was  there,  and  Mr.  Sumner  appeared  to  be 
as  ignorant  of  the  whole  condition  of  things  below  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line  as  he  was  of  the  politics  of  Timbuctoo. 

The  importance  of  maintaining  a  friendly  feeling  with  Eng 
land  appeared  to  me  very  strongly  impressed  on  the  Senator's 
mind.  Mr.  Seward  has  been  fretful,  irritable,  and  acrimonious; 
and  it  is  not  too  much  to  suppose  Mr.  Sumner  has  been  useful 
in  allaying  irritation.  A  certain  despatch  was  written  last 
June,  which  amounted  to  little  less  than  a  declaration  of  war 
against  Great  Britain.  Most  fortunately  the  President  was 
induced  to  exercise  his  power.  The  despatch  was  modified, 
though  not  without  opposition,  and  was  forwarded  to  the  Eng- 


378  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

lish  Minister  with  its  teeth  drawn.  Lord  Lyons,  who  is  one 
of  the  suavest  and  quietest  of  diplomatists,  has  found  it  difficult, 
I  fear,  to  maintain  personal  relations  with  Mr.  Seward  at 
times.  Two  despatches  have  been  prepared  for  Lord  John 
Russell,  which  could  have  had  no  result  but  to  lead  to  a  breach 
of  the  peace,  had  not  some  friendly  interpositor  succeeded  in 
averting  the  wrath  of  the  Foreign  Minister. 

Mr.  Sumner  is  more  sanguine  of  immediate  success  than  I 
am,  from  the  military  operations  which  are  to  commence  when 
General  Scott  considers  the  army  fit  to  take  the  field.  At 
Gautier's  I  met  a  number  of  officers,  who  expressed  a  great 
diversity  of  views  in  reference  to  those  operations.  General 
McDowell  is  popular  with  them,  but  they  admit  the  great  defi 
ciencies  of  the  subaltern  and  company  officers.  General 
Scott  is  too  infirm  to  take  the  field,  and  the  burdens  of  adminis 
tration  press  the  veteran  to  the  earth. 

July  Uh.  —  "  Independence  Day."  Fortunate  to  escape  this 
great  national  festival  in  the  large  cities  of  the  Union  where  it 
is  celebrated  with  many  days  before  and  after  of  surplus  re 
joicing,  by  fireworks  and  an  incessant  fusillade  in  the  streets, 
I  was,  nevertheless,  subjected  to  the  small  ebullition  of  the 
Washington  juveniles,  to  bell-ringing  and  discharges  of  cannon 
and  musketry.  On  this  day  Congress  meets.  Never  before 
has  any  legislative  body  assembled  under  circumstances  so 
grave.  By  their  action  they  will  decide  whether  the  Union 
can  ever  be  restored,  and  will  determine  whether  the  States 
of  the  North  are  to  commence  an  invasion  for  the  purpose  of 
subjecting  by  force  of  arms,  and  depriving  of  their  freedom,  the 
States  of  the  South, 

Congress  met  to-day  merely  for  the  purpose  of  forming  itself 
into  a  regular  body,  and  there  was  no  debate  or  business  of 
public  importance  introduced.  Mr.  Wilson  gave  me  to  un 
derstand,  however,  that  some  military  movements  of  the  ut 
most  importance  might  be  expected  in  a  few  days,  and  that 
General  McDowell  would  positively  attack  the  rebels  in  front 
of  Washington.  The  Confederates  occupy  the  whole  of 
Northern  Virginia,  commencing  from  the  peninsula  above 
Fortress  Monroe  on  the  right  or  east,  and  extending  along  the 
Potomac,  to  the  extreme  verge  of  the  State,  by  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railway.  This  immense  line,  however,  is  broken  by 
great  intervals,  and  the  army  with  which  McDowell  will  have 
to  deal  may  be  considered  as  detached,  covering  the  approach 
es  to  Richmond,  whilst  its  left  flank  is  protected  by  a  corps  of 


THE  MILITARY   SITUATION".  379 

observation,  stationed  near  Winchester,  under  General  Jack 
son.  A  Federal  corps  is  being  prepared  to  watch  the  corps 
and  engage  it,  whilst  McDowell  advances  on  the  main  body, 
To  the  right  of  this  again,  or  further  west,  another  body  of 
Federals,  under  General  McClellan,  is  operating  in  the  valleys 
of  the  Shenandoah  and  in  Western  Virginia  ;  but  I  did  not 
hear  of  any  of  these  things  from  Mr.  Wilson,  who  was,  I  am 
sure,  in  perfect  ignorance  of  the  plans,  in  a  military  sense,  of 
the  General.  I  sat  at  Mr.  Sumner's  desk,  and  wrote  the  final 
paragraphs  of  a  letter  describing  my  impressions  of  the  South 
in  a  place  but  little  disposed  to  give  a  favorable  color  to  them. 


CHAPTER   XLV. 

Interview  with  Mr.  Seward  —  My  passport  —  Mr.  Seward's  views  as 
to  the  war  —  Illumination  at  Washington  —  My  "  servant  "  ab 
sents  himself — New  York  journalism  —  The  Capitol  —  Interior 
of  Congress  —  The  President's  Message  —  Speeches  in  Congress 

—  Lord  Lyons  —  General  McDowell  — Low  standard  in  the  army 

—  Accident  to  the  "  Stars  and  Stripes  "  —  A   street  row  —  Mr. 
Bigelow  — Mr.  N.  P.  Willis. 

WHEN  the  Senate  had  adjourned,  I  drove  to  the  State 
Department  and  saw  Mr.  Seward,  who  looked  much  more  worn 
and  haggard  than  when  I  saw  him  last,  three  months  ago.  He 
congratulated  me  on  my  safe  return  from  the  South  in  time  to 
witness  some  stirring  events.  "  Well,  Mr.  Secretary,  I  am 
quite  sure  that,  if  all  the  South  are  of  the  same  mind  as  those 
I  met  in  my  travels,  there  will  be  many  battles  before  they 
submit  to  the  Federal  Government." 

"  It  is  not  submission  to  the  Government  we  want ;  it  is  to 
assent  to  the  principles  of  the  Constitution.  When  you  left 
Washington  we  had  a  few  hundred  regulars  and  some  hastily- 
levied  militia  to  defend  the  national  capital,  and  a  battery  and 
a  half  of  artillery  under  the  command  of  a  traitor.  The 
Navy  Yard  was  in  the  hands  of  a  disloyal  officer.  We  were 
surrounded  by  treason.  Now  we  are  supported  by  the  loyal 
States  which  have  come  forward  in  defence  of  the  best  Gov 
ernment  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  the  unfortunate  andl 
desperate  men  who  have  commenced  this  struggle  will  have  tor 
yield  or  experience  the  punishment  due  to  their  crimes." 

"  But,  Mr.  Seward,  has  not  this  great  exhibition  of  strength 
been  attended  by  some  circumstances  calculated  to  inspire  ap 
prehension  that  liberty  in  the  Free  States  may  be  impaired ; 
for  instance,  I  hear  that  I  must  procure  a  passport  in  order  to 
travel  through  the  States  and  go  into  the  camps  in  front  of 
Washington." 

"  Yes,  sir ;  you  must  send  your  passport  here  from  Lord 
Lyons,  with  his  signature.  It  will  be  no  good  till  I  have 
signed  it,  and  then  it  must  be  sent  to  General  Scott,  as  Com- 


PASSPORTS.  381 

mander-in- Chief  of  the  United  States  army,  who  will  subscribe 
it,  after  which  it  will  be  available  for  all  legitimate  purposes. 
You  are  not  in  any  way  impaired  in  your  liberty  by  the 
process." 

"  Neither  is,  one  may  say,  the  man  who  is  under  surveil 
lance  of  the  police  in  despotic  countries  of  Europe ;  he  has 
only  to  submit  to  a  certain  formality,  and  he  is  all  right ;  in 
fact,  it  is  said  by  some  people,  that  the  protection  afforded  by 
a  passport  is  worth  all  the  trouble  connected  with  having  it  in 
order." 

Mr.  Seward  seemed  to  think  it  was  quite  likely.  There 
were  corresponding  measures  taken  in  the  Southern  States  by 
the  rebels,  and  it  was  necessary  to  have  some  control  over 
traitors  and  disloyal  persons.  "  In  this  contest,"  said  he,  "  the 
Government  will  not  shrink  from  using  all  the  means  which 
they  consider  necessary  to  restore  the  Union."  It  was  not  my 
place  to  remark  that  such  doctrines  were  exactly  identical 
with  all  that  despotic  governments  in  Europe  have  advanced 
as  the  ground  of  action  in  cases  of  revolt,  or  with  a  view  to 
the  maintenance  of  their  strong  Governments.  "  The  Execu 
tive,"  said  he,  "has  declared  in  the  inaugural  that  the  rights 
of  the  Federal  Government  shall  be  fully  vindicated.  We 
are  dealing  with  an  insurrection  within  our  own  country,  of  our 
own  people,  and  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  have 
thought  fit  to  recognize  that  insurrection  before  we  were  able 
to  bring  the  strength  of  the  Union  to  bear  against  it,  by  con 
ceding  to  it  the  status  of  belligerent.  Although  we  might 
justly  complain  of  such  an  unfriendly  act  in  a  manner  that 
might  injure  the  friendly  relations  between  the  two  countries, 
we  do  not  desire  to  give  any  excuse  for  foreign  interference ; 
although  we  do  not  hesitate,  in  case  of  necessity,  to  resist  it  to 
the  uttermost,  we  have  less  to  fear  from  a  foreign  war  than 
any  country  in  the  world.  If  any  European  Power  provokes 
a  war,  we  shall  not  shrink  from  it.  A  contest  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  would  wrap  the  world  in  fire, 
and  at  the  end  it  would  not  be  the  United  States  which  would 
have  to  lament  the  results  of  the  conflict." 

I  could  not  but  admire  the  confidence  —  may  I  say  the  cool 
ness  ?  —  of  the  statesman  who  sat  in  his  modest  little  room 
within  the  sound  of  the  evening's  guns,  in  a  capital  menaced 
by  their  forces  who  spoke  so  fearlessly  of  war  witli  a  Power 
which  could  have  blotted  out  the  paper  blockade  of  the  South 
ern  forts  and  coast  in  a  few  hours,  and,  in  conjunction  with  the 


382  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Southern  armies,  have  repeated  the  occupation  and  destruction 
of  the  capital. 

The  President  sent  for  Mr.  Seward  whilst  I  was  in  the 
State  Department,  and  I  walked  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue  to 
my  lodgings,  through  a  crowd  of  men  in  uniform  who  were 
celebrating  Independence  Day  in  their  own  fashion  —  some 
by  the  large  internal  use  of  tire- water,  others  by  an  external 
display  of  fire-works. 

Directly  opposite  my  lodgings  are  the  head-quarters  of  Gen 
eral  Mansfield,  commanding  the  district,  which  are  marked  by 
a  guard  at  the  door  and  a  couple  of  six-pounder  guns  pointing 
down  the  street.  I  called  upon  the  General,  but  he  was  busy 
examining  certain  inhabitants  of  Alexandria  and  of  Washington 
itself,  who  had  been  brought  before  him  on  the  charge  of  being 
Secessionists,  and  I  left  my  card,  and  proceeded  to  General 
Scott's  head-quarters,  which  I  found  packed  with  officers. 
The  General  received  me  in  a  small  room,  and  expressed  his 
gratification  at  my  return,  but  I  saw  he  was  so  busy  with  re 
ports,  despatches,  and  maps,  that  I  did  not  trespass  on  his 
time.  I  dined  with  Lord  Lyons,  and  afterwards  went  with 
some  members  of  the  Legation  to  visit  the  camps,  situated  in 
the  public  square. 

All  the  population  of  Washington  had  turned  out  in  their 
best  to  listen  to  the  military  bands,  the  music  of  which  was 
rendered  nearly  inaudible  by  the  constant  discharge  of  fire 
works.  The  camp  of  the  12th  New  York  presented  a  very 
pretty  and  animated  scene.  The  men  liberated  from  duty 
were  enjoying  themselves  out  and  inside  their  tents,  and  the 
sutlers'  booths  were  driving  a  roaring  trade.  I  was  intro 
duced  to  Colonel  Butterfield,  commanding  the  regiment,  who 
was  a  merchant  of  New  York  ;  but  notwithstanding  the  train 
ing  of  the  counting-house,  he  looked  very  much  like  a  soldier, 
and  had  got  his  regiment  very  fairly  in  hand.  In  compliance 
with  a  desire  of  Professor  Henry,  the  Colonel  had  prepared  a 
number  of  statistical  tables  in  which  the  nationality,  height, 
weight,  breadth  of  chest,  age,  and  other  particulars  respecting 
the  men  under  his  command  were  entered.  I  looked  over  the 
book,  and  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  but  two  out  of  twelve  of 
the  soldiers  were  native-born  Americans,  the  rest  being  Irish, 
German,  English,  and  European-born  generally.  According 
to  the  commanding  officer  they  were  in  the  highest  state  of 
discipline  and  obedience.  He  had  given  them  leave  to  go  out 
as  they  pleased  for  the  day,  but  at  tattoo  only  fourteen  men 


WANTED  A  HORSE.  383 

out  of  one  thousand  were  absent,  and  some  of  those  had  been 
accounted  for  by  reports  that  they  were  incapable  of  locomo 
tion  owing  to  the  hospitality  of  the  citizens. 

When  I  returned  to  my  lodgings,  the  colored  boy  whom  I 
had  hired  at  Niagara  was  absent,  and  I  was  told  he  had  not 
come  in  since  the  night  before.  "  These  free  colored  boys," 
said  my  landlord,  "  are  a  bad  set ;  now  they  are  worse  than 
ever  ;  the  officers  of  the  army  are  taking  them  all  away  from 
us  ;  it's  just  the  life  they  like ;  they  get  little  work,  have  good 
pay  j  but  what  they  like  most  is  robbing  and  plundering  the 
farmers'  houses  over  in  Virginia ;  what  with  Germans,  Irish, 
and  free  niggers,  Lord  help  the  poor  Virginians,  I  say  ;  but 
they'll  give  them  a  turn  yet." 

The  sounds  in  Washington  to-night  might  have  led  one  to 
believe  the  city  was  carried  by  storm.  Constant  explosion  of 
fire-arms,  fireworks,  shouting,  and  cries  in  the  streets,  which 
combined,  with  the  heat  and  the  abominable  odors  of  the  un- 
drained  houses  and  mosquitoes,  to  drive  sleep  far  away. 

July  5th.  —  As  the  young  gentleman  of  color,  to  whom  I 
had  given  egregious  ransom  as  well  as  an  advance  of  wages, 
did  not  appear  this  morning,  I  was,  after  an  abortive  attempt 
to  boil  water  for  coffee  and  to  get  a  piece  of  toast,  compelled 
to  go  in  next  door,  and  avail  myself  of  the  hospitality  of  Cap 
tain  Cecil  Johnson,  who  was  installed  in  the  drawing-room  of 
Madame  Jost.  In  the  forenoon,  Mr.  John  Bigelow,  whose 
acquaintance  I  made,  much  to  my  gratification  in  time  gone 
by,  on  the  margin  of  the  Lake  of  Thun,  found  me  out,  and 
proffered  his  services  ;  which,  as  the  whilom  editor  of  the 
"  Evening  Post "  and  as  a  leading  Republican,  he  was  in  a  posi 
tion  to  render  valuable  and  most  effective  ;  but  he  could  not 
make  a  Bucephalus  to  order,  and  I  have  been  running  through 
the  stables  of  Washington  in  vain,  hoping  to  find  something 
up  to  my  weight  —  such  flankless,  screwy,  shoulderless,  cat- 
lilve  creatures  were  never  seen  —  four  of  them  would  scarcely 
furnish  ribs  and  legs  enough  to  carry  a  man,  but  the  owners 
thought  that  each  of  them  was  fit  for  Baron  Rothschild  ;  and 
then  there  was  saddlery  and  equipments  of  all  sorts  to  be  got, 
which  the  influx  of  officers  and  the  badness  and  dearness  of 
the  material  put  quite  beyond  one's  reach.  Mr.  Bigelow  was 
of  opinion  that  the  army  would  move  at  once ;  "  But,"  said  I, 
"  where  is  the  transport  —  where  the  cavalry  and  guns  ? " 
"  Oh,"  replied  he,  "  I  suppose  we  have  got  everything  that  is 
required.  I  know  nothing  of  these  things,  but  I  am  told  cav- 


384  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

airy  are  no  use  in  the  wooded  country  towards  Richmond." 
I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  go  through  the  camps,  but  I  doubt 
very  much  whether  the  material  or  commissariat  of  the  grand 
army  of  the  North  is  at  all  adequate  to  a  campaign. 

The  presumption  and  ignorance  of  the  New  York  journals 
would  be  ridiculous  were  they  not  so  mischievous.  They 
describe  "  this  horde  of  battalion  companies  —  unofficered, 
clad  in  all  kinds  of  different  uniform,  diversely  equipped,  per 
fectly  ignorant  of  the  principles  of  military  obedience  and 
concerted  action,"  —  for  so  I  hear  it  described  by  United  States 
officers  themselves  —  as  being  "  the  greatest  army  the  world 
ever  saw  ;  perfect  in  officers  and  discipline  ;  unsurpassed  in 
devotion  and  courage;  furnished  with  every  requisite;  and 
destined  on  its  first  march  to  sweep  into  Richmond,  and  to 
obliterate  from  the  Potomac  to  New  Orleans  every  trace  of 
rebellion." 

The  Congress  met  to-day  to  hear  the  President's  Message 
read.  Somehow  or  other  there  is  not  such  anxiety  and  eager 
ness  to  hear  what  Mr.  Lincoln  has  to  say  as  one  could  expect 
on  such  a  momentous  occasion.  It  would  seem  as  if  the 
forthcoming  appeal  to  arms  had  overshadowed  every  other 
sentiment  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  They  are  waiting  for 
deeds,  and  care  not  for  words.  The  confidence  of  the  New 
York  papers,  and  of  the  citizens,  soldiers,  and  public  speakers, 
contrast  with  the  dubious  and  gloomy  views  of  the  military 
men ;  but  of  this  Message  itself  there  are  some  incidents 
independent  of  the  occasion  to  render  it  curious,  if  not  inter 
esting.  The  President  has,  it  is  said,  written  much  of  it  in  his 
own  fashion,  which  has  been  revised  and  altered  by  his  Min 
isters  ;  but  he  has  written  it  again  and  repeated  himself,  and 
after  many  struggles  a  good  deal  of  pure  Lincolnism  goes 
down  to  Congress. 

At  a  little  after  half-past  eleven  I  went  down  to  the  Capitol. 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  was  thronged  as  before,  but  on  ap 
proaching  Capitol  Hill,  the  crowd  rather  thinned  away,  as 
though  they  shunned,  or  had  no  curiosity  to  hear,  the  Presi 
dent's  Message.  One  would  have  thought  that,  where  every 
one  who  could  get  in  was  at  liberty  to  attend  the  galleries  in  both 
Houses,  there  would  have  been  an  immense  pressure  from  the 
inhabitants  and  strangers  in  the  city,  as  well  as  from  the 
citizen  soldiers,  of  which  such  multitudes  were  in  the  street ; 
but  when  I  looked  up  from  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  I  was 
astonished  to  see  that  the  galleries  were  not  more  than  three 


THE  CAPITOL.  385 

parts  filled.  There  is  always  a  ruinous  look  about  an  unfinish 
ed  building  when  it  is  occupied  and  devoted  to  business.  The 
Capitol  is  situated  on  a  hill,  one  face  of  which  is  scarped  by 
the  road,  and  has  the  appearance  of  being  formed  of  heaps 
of  rubbish.  Towards  Pennsylvania  Avenue  the  long  frontage 
abuts  on  a  lawn  shaded  by  trees,  through  which  walks  and 
avenues  lead  to  the  many  entrances  under  the  porticoes  and 
colonnades ;  the  face  which  corresponds  on  the  other  side 
looks  out  on  heaps  of  brick  and  mortar,  cut  stone,  and  a  waste 
of  marble  blocks  lying  half  buried  in  the  earth  and  cumbering 
the  ground,  which,  in  the  magnificent  ideas  of  the  founders  and 
planners  of  the  city,  was  to  be  occupied  by  stately  streets. 
The  cleverness  of  certain  speculators  in  land  prevented  the 
execution  of  the  original  idea,  which  was  to  radiate  all  the 
main  avenues  of  the  city  from  the  Capitol  as  a  centre,  the 
intermediate  streets  being  formed  by  circles  drawn  at  regularly- 
increasing  intervals  from  the  Capitol,  and  intersected  by  the 
radii.  The  speculators  purchased  up  the  land  on  the  side 
between  the  Navy  Yard  and  the  site  of  the  Capitol;  the 
result  —  the  land  is  unoccupied,  except  by  paltry  houses,  and 
the  capitalists  are  ruined. 

The  Capitol  would  be  best  described  by  a  series  of  photo 
graphs.  Like  the  Great  Republic  itself,  it  is  unfinished.  It 
resembles  it  in  another  respect :  it  looks  best  at  a  distance ; 
and,  again,  it  is  incongruous  in  its  parts.  The  passages  are  so 
dark  that  artificial  light  is  often  required  to  enable  one  to  find 
his  way.  The  offices  and  bureaux  of  the  committees  are 
better  than  the  chambers  of  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives.  All  the  encaustics  and  the  white  marble  and 
stone  staircases  suffer  from  tobacco  juice,  though  there  is  a 
liberal  display  of  spittoons  at  every  corner.  The  official 
messengers,  doorkeepers,  and  porters  wear  no  distinctive 
badge  or  dress.  No  policemen  are  on  duty,  as  in  our  Houses 
of  Parliament;  no  soldiery,  gendarmerie,  or  sergens-de-ville 
in  the  precincts ;  the  crowd  wanders  about  the  passages  as  it 
pleases,  and  shows  the  utmost  propriety,  never  going  where  it 
ought  not  to  intrude.  There  is  a  special  gallery  set  apart  for 
women;  the  reporters  are  commodiously  placed  in  an  ample 
gallery,  above  the  Speaker's  chair ;  the  diplomatic  circle  have 
their  gallery  facing  the  reporters,  and  they  are  placed  so  low 
down  in  the  somewhat  depressed  chamber,  that  every  word 
can  be  heard  from  speakers  in  the  remotest  parts  of  the  house 
very  distinctly. 

17 


386  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

The  seats  of  the  members  are  disposed  in  a  manner  some 
what  like  those  in  the  French  Chambers.  Instead  of  being 
in  parallel  rows  to  the  walls,  and  at  right  angles  to  the  Chair 
man's  seat,  the  separate  chairs  and  desks  of  the  senators  are 
arranged  in  semicircular  rows.  The  space  between  the  walls 
and  the  outer  semicircle  is  called  the  floor  of  the  house,  and  it 
is  a  high  compliment  to  a  stranger  to  introduce  him  within 
this  privileged  place.  There  are  leather-cushioned  seats  and 
lounges  put  for  the  accommodation  of  those  who  may  be  in 
troduced  by  senators,  or  to  whom,  as  distinguished  members 
of  congress  in  former  days,  the  permission  is  given  to  take 
their  seats.  Senators  Sumner  and  Wilson  introduced  me  to  a 
chair,  and  made  me  acquainted  with  a  number  of  senators 
before  the  business  of  the  day  began. 

Mr.  Sumner,  as  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Relations,  is  supposed  to  be  viewed  with  some  jealousy  by 
Mr.  Seward,  on  account  of  the  disposition  attributed  to  him  to 
interfere  in  diplomatic  questions  ;  but  if  he  does  so,  we  shall 
have  no  reason  to  complain,  as  the  Senator  is  most  desirous 
of  keeping  the  peace  between  the  two  countries,  and  of  mol 
lifying  any  little  acerbities  and  irritations  which  may  at 
present  exist  between  them.  Senator  Wilson  is  a  man  who 
has  risen  from  what  would  be  considered  in  any  country  but 
a  republic  the  lowest  ranks  of  the  people.  He  apprenticed 
himself  to  a  poor  shoemaker  when  he  was  twenty-two  years 
of  age,  and  when  he  was  twenty-four  years  old  he  began  to 
go  to  school,  and  devoted  all  his  earnings  to  the  improvement 
of  education.  He  got  on  by  degrees,  till  he  set  up  as  a  master 
shoemaker  and  paanufacturer,  became  a  "  major-general "  of 
State  militia  ;  finally  was  made  Senator  of  the  United  States, 
and  is  now  "  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  Senate  on 
Military  Affairs."  He  is  a  bluff  man,  of  about  fifty  years  of 
age,  with  a  peculiar  eye  and  complexion,  and  seems  honest  and 
vigorous.  But  is  he  not  going  ultra  crepidam  in  such  a  post? 
At  present  he  is  much  perplexed  by  the  drunkenness  which 
prevails  among  the  troops,  or  rather  by  the  desire  of  the  men 
for  spirits,  as  he  has  a  New  England  mania  on  that  point.  One 
of  the  most  remarkable-looking  men  in  the  House  is  Mr.  Sum 
ner.  Mr.  Breckinridge  and  he  wrould  probably  be  the  first 
persons  to  excite  the  curiosity  of  a  stranger,  so  far  as  to  in 
duce  him  to  ask  for  their  names.  Save  in  height  —  and  both 
are  a  good  deal  over  six  feet  —  there  is  no  resemblance  be 
tween  the  champion  of  States'  Rights  and  the  orator  of  the 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.  387 

Black  Republicans.  The  massive  head,  the  great  chin  and 
jaw,  and  the  penetrating  eyes  of  Mr.  Breckinridge  convey 
the  idea  of  a  man  of  immense  determination,  courage,  and 
sagacity.  Mr.  Sumner's  features  are  indicative  of  a  philosoph 
ical  and  poetical  turn  of  thought,  and  one  might  easily  conceive 
that  he  would  be  a  great  advocate,  but  an  indifferent  leader 
of  a  party. 

It  was  a  hot  day ;  but  there  was  no  excuse  for  the  slop- 
coats  and  light-colored  clothing  and  felt  wide-awakes  worn  by 
so  many  senators  in  such  a  place.  They  gave  the  meeting 
the  aspect  of  a  gathering  of  bakers  or  millers  ;  nor  did  the 
constant  use  of  the  spittoons  beside  their  desks,  their  reading 
of  newspapers  and  writing  letters  during  the  dispatch  of  busi 
ness,  or  the  hurrying  to  and  fro  of  the  pages  of  the  House 
between  the  seats,  do  anything  but  derogate  from  the  dignity 
of  the  assemblage,  and,  according  to  European  notions,  violate 
the  respect  due  to  a  Senate  Chamber.  The  pages  alluded  to 
are  smart  boys,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years  of  age,  who  stand 
below  the  President's  table,  and  are  employed  to  go  on  er 
rands  and  carry  official  messages  by  the  members.  They 
wear  no  particular  uniform,  and  are  dressed  as  the  taste  or 
means  of  their  parents  dictate. 

The  House  of  Representatives  exaggerates  all  the  peculiar 
ities  I  have  observed  in  the  Senate,  but  the  debates  are  not 
regarded  with  so  much  interest  as  those  of  the  Upper  House  ; 
indeed,  they  are  of  far  less  importance.  Strong-minded  states 
men  and  officers  —  Presidents  or  Ministers  —  do  not  care 
much  for  the  House  of  Representatives,  so  long  as  they  are 
sure  of  the  Senate  ;  and,  for  the  matter  of  that,  a  President 
like  Jackson  does  not  care  much  for  Senate  and  House  to 
gether.  There  are  privileges  attached  to  a  seat  in  either 
branch  of  the  Legislature,  independent  of  the  great  fact  that 
they  receive  mileage  and  are  paid  for  their  services,  which 
may  add  some  incentive  to  ambition.  Thus  the  members  can 
order  whole  tons  of  stationery  for  their  use,  not  only  when 
they  are  in  session,  but  during  the  recess.  Their  frank  covers 
parcels  by  mail,  and  it  is  said  that  Senators  without  a  con 
science  have  sent  sewing-machines  to  their  wives  and  pianos 
to  their  daughters  as  little  parcels  by  post.  I  had  almost  for 
gotten  that  much  the  same  abuses  were*  in  vogue  in  England 
some  century  ago. 

The  galleries  were  by  no  means  full,  and  in  that  reserved 
for  the  diplomatic  body  the  most  notable  person  was  M.  Mer- 


388  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

cier,  the  Minister  of  France,  who,  fixing  his  intelligent  and 
eager  face  between  both  hands,  watched  with  keen  scrutiny 
the  attitude  and  conduct  of  the  Senate.  None  of  the  members 
of  the  English  Legation  were  present.  After  the  lapse  of  an 
hour,  Mr.  Hay,  the  President's  Secretary,  made  his  appear 
ance  on  the  floor,  and  sent  in  the  Message  to  the  Clerk  of  the 
Senate,  Mr.  Forney,  who  proceeded  to  read  it  to  the  House. 
It  was  listened  to  in  silence,  scarcely  broken  except  when 
some  senator  murmured  "  Good,  that  is  so  ; "  but  in  fact  the 
general  purport  of  it  was  already  known  to  the  supporters  of 
the  Ministry,  and  not  a  sound  came  from  the  galleries.  Soon 
after  Mr.  Forney  had  finished,  the  galleries  were  cleared,  and 
I  returned  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  in  which  the  crowds  of 
soldiers  around  bar-rooms,  oyster-shops,  and  restaurants,  the 
groups  of  men  in  officers'  uniform,  and  the  clattering  of  dis 
orderly  mounted  cavaliers  in  the  dust,  increased  my  apprehen 
sion  that  discipline  was  very  little  regarded,  and  that  the  army 
over  the  Potomac  had  not  a  very  strong  hand  to  keep  it  with 
in  bounds. 

As  I  was  walking  over  with  Capt.  Johnson  to  dine  with 
Lord  Lyons,  I  met  General  Scott  leaving  his  office  and  walk 
ing  with  great  difficulty  between  two  aides-de-camp.  He  was 
dressed  in  a  blue  frock  with  gold  lace  shoulder  straps,  fastened 
round  the  waist  by  a  yellow  sash,  and  with  large  yellow  lapels 
turned  back  over  the  chest  in  the  old  style,  and  moved  with 
great  difficulty  along  the  pavement.  "  You  see  I  am  trying 
to  hobble  along,  but  it  is  hard  for  me  to  overcome  my  many 
infirmities.  I  regret  I  could  not  have  the  pleasure  of  granting 
you  an  interview  to-day,  but  I  shall  cause  it  to  be  intimated  to 
you  when  I  may  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  ;  meantime 
I  shall  provide  you  with  a  pass  and  the  necessary  introductions 
to  afford  you  all  facilities  with  the  army." 

After  dinner  I  made  a  round  of  visits,  and  heard  the  diplo 
matists  speaking  of  the  Message ;  few,  if  any  of  them,  in  its 
favor.  With  the  exception  perhaps  of  Baron  Gerolt,  the 
Prussian  Minister,  there  is  not  one  member  of  the  Legations 
who  justifies  the  attempt  of  the  Northern  States  to  assert  the 
supremacy  of  the  Federal  Government  by  the  force  of  arms. 
Lord  Lyons,  indeed,  in  maintaining  a  judicious  reticence,  when 
ever  he  does  speak  gives  utterance  to  sentiments  becoming 
the  representative  of  Great  Britain  at  the  court  of  a  friendly 
Power,  and  the  Minister  of  a  people  who  have  been  protago 
nists  to  slavery  for  many  a  long  year. 


GENERAL   MCDOWELL.  389 

July  6th.  —  I  breakfasted  with  Mr.  Bigelow  this  morning, 
to  meet  General  McDowell,  who  commands  the  army  of  the 
Potomac,  now  so  soon  to  move.  He  came  in  without  an  aide- 
de-camp,  and  on  foot,  from  his  quarters  in  the  city.  He  is  a 
man  about  forty  years  of  age,  square  and  powerfully  built,  but 
with  rather  a  stout  and  clumsy  figure  and  limbs,  a  good  head 
covered  with  close-cut  thick  dark  hair,  small  light-blue  eyes, 
short  nose,  large  cheeks  and  jaw,  relieved  by  an  iron-gray  tuft 
somewhat  of  the  French  type,  and  affecting  in  dress  the  style 
of  our  gallant  allies.  His  manner  is  frank,  simple,  and  agree 
able,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  with  great  openness  of 
the  difficulties  he  had  to  contend  with,  and  the  imperfection  of 
all  the  arrangements  of  the  army. 

As  an  officer  of  the  regular  army  he  has  a  thorough  con 
tempt  for  what  he  calls  "  political  generals"  —  the  men  who 
use  their  influence  with  President  and  Congress  to  obtain 
military  rank,  which  in  time  of  war  places  them  before  the 
public  in  the  front  of  events,  and  gives  them  an  appearance 
of  leading  in  the  greatest  of  all  political  movements.  Nor  is 
General  McDowell  enamored  of  volunteers,  for  he  served  in 
Mexico,  and  has  from  what  he  saw  there  formed  rather  an  un 
favorable  opinion  of  their  capabilities  in  the  field.  He  is  in 
clined,  however,  to  hold  the  Southern  troops  in  too  little  re 
spect  ;  and  he  told  me  that  the  volunteers  from  the  Slave  States, 
who  entered  the  field  full  of  exultation  and  boastings,  did  not 
make  good  their  words,  and  that  they  suffered  especially  from 
sickness  and  disease,  in  consequence  of  their  disorderly  habits 
and  dissipation.  His  regard  for  old  associations  was  evinced 
in  many  questions  he  asked  me  about  Beauregard,  with  whom 
he  had  been  a  student  at  West  Point,  where  the  Confederate 
commander  was  noted  for  his  studious  and  reserved  habits,  and 
his  excellence  in  feats  of  strength  and  athletic  exercises. 

As  proof  of  the  low  standard  established  in  his  army,  he 
mentioned  that  some  officers  of  considerable  rank  were  more 
than  suspected  of  selling  rations,  and  of  illicit  connections 
with  sutlers  for  purposes  of  pecuniary  advantage.  The  Gen 
eral  walked  back  with  me  as  far  as  my  lodgings,  and  I  observ 
ed  that  not  one  of  the  many  soldiers  he  passed  in  the  streets 
saluted  him,  though  his  rank  was  indicated  by  his  velvet  collar 
and  cuffs,  and  a  gold  star  on  the  shoulder  strap. 

Having  written  some  letters,  I  walked  out  with  Captain 
Johnson  and  one  of  the  attaches  of  the  British  Legation,  to 
the  lawn  at  the  back  of  the  White  House,  and  listened  to  the 


390  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

excellent  band  of  the  United  States  Marines,  playing  on  a 
kind  of  dais  under  the  large  flag  recently  hoisted  by  the  Pres 
ident  himself,  in  the  garden.  The  occasion  was  marked  by 
rather  an  ominous  event.  As  the  President  pulled  the  hal 
yards  and  the  flag  floated  aloft,  a  branch  of  a  tree  caught  the 
bunting  and  tore  it,  so  that  a  number  of  the  stars  and  stripes 
were  detached  and  hung  dangling  beneath  the  rest  of  the  flag, 
half  detached  from  the  staff. 

I  dined  at  Captain  Johnson's  lodgings  next  door  to  mine. 
Beneath  us  was  a  wine  and  spirit  store,  and  crowds  of  officers 
and  men  flocked  indiscriminately  to  make  their  purchases,  with 
a  good  deal  of  tumult,  which  increased  as  the  night  came  on. 
Later  still,  there  was  a  great  disturbance  in  the  city.  A  body 
of  New  York  Zouaves  wrecked  some  houses  of  bad  repute, 
in  one  of  which  a  private  of  the  regiment  was  murdered  early 
this  morning.  The  cavalry  patrols  were  called  out  and 
charged  the  rioters,  who  were  dispersed  with  difficulty  after 
resistance  in  which  men  on  both  sides  were  wounded.  There 
is  no  police,  no  provost  guard.  Soldiers  wander  about  the 
streets,  and  beg  in  the  fashion  of  the  mendicant  in  "  Gil  Bias  " 
for  money  to  get  whiskey.  My  colored  gentleman  has  been 
led  away  by  the  Saturnalia  and  has  taken  to  gambling  in  the 
camps,  which  are  surrounded  by  hordes  of  rascally  followers 
and  sutlers'  servants,  and  I  find  myself  on  the  eve  of  a  cam 
paign,  without  servant,  horse,  equipment,  or  means  of  trans 
port. 

July  1th.  —  Mr.  Bigelow  invited  me  to  breakfast,  to  meet 
Mr.  Senator  King,  Mr.  Olmsted,  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed,  a  Sen 
ator  from  Missouri,  a  West  Point  professor,  and  others.  It  was 
indicative  of  the  serious  difficulties  which  embarrass  the  ac 
tion  of  the  Government  to  hear  Mr.  Wilson,  the  Chairman 
of  the  Military  Committee  of  the  Senate,  inveigh  against  the 
officers  of  the  regular  army,  and  attack  West  Point  itself. 
Whilst  the  N,ew  York  papers  were  lauding  General  Scott 
and  his  plans  to  the  skies,  the  Washington  politicians  were 
speaking  of  him  as  obstructive,  obstinate,  and  prejudiced  — 
unfit  for  the  times  and  the  occasion. 

General  Scott  refused  to  accept  cavalry  and  artillery  at 
the  beginning  of  the  levy,  and  said  that  they  were  not  re 
quired  ;  now  he  was  calling  for  both  arms  most  urgently.  The 
officers  of  the  regular  army  had  followed  suit.  Although 
they  were  urgently  pressed  by  the  politicians  to  occupy  Har 
per's  Ferry  and  Manassas,  they  refused  to  do  either,  and  the 


MR.   OLMSTED.  391 

result  is  that  the  enemy  have  obtained  invaluable  supplies  from 
the  first  place,  and  are  now  assembled  in  force  in  a  most  for 
midable  position  at  the  second.  Everything  as  yet  accom 
plished  has  been  done  by  political  generals  —  not  by  the 
officers  of  the  regular  army.  Butler  and  Banks  saved  Balti 
more  in  spite  of  General  Scott.  There  was  an  attempt  made 
to  cry  up  Lyon  in  Missouri ;  but  in  fact  it  was  Frank  Blair, 
the  brother  of  the  Postmaster-General,  who  had  been  the 
soul  and  body  of  all  the  actions  in  that  State.  The  first  step 
taken  by  McClellan  in  Western  Virginia  was  atrocious  —  he 
talked  of  slaves  in  a  public  document  as  property.  Butler, 
at  Monroe,  had  dealt  with  them  in  a  very  different  spirit,  and 
had  used  them  for  State  purposes  under  the  name  of  contra 
band.  One  man  alone  displayed  powers  of  administrative 
ability,  and  that  was  Quartermaster  Meigs  ;  and  unquestion 
ably  from  all  I  heard,  the  praise  was  well  bestowed.  It  is 
plain  enough  that  the  political  leaders  fear  the  consequences 
of  delay,  and  that  they  are  urging  the  military  authorities  to 
action,  which  the  latter  have  too  much  professional  knowledge 
to  take  with  their  present  means.  These  Northern  men  know 
nothing  of  the  South,  and  with  them  it  is  omne  ignotum  pro 
minima.  The  West  Point  professor  listened  to  them  with  a 
quiet  smile,  and  exchanged  glances  with  me  now  and  then, 
as  much  as  to  say,  "  Did  you  ever  hear  such  fools  in  your 
life?" 

But  the  conviction  of  ultimate  success  is  not  less  strong 
here  than  it  is  in  the  South.  The  difference  between  these 
gentlemen  and  the  Southerners  is,  that  in  the  South  the  lead 
ers  of  the  people,  soldiers  and  civilians,  are  all  actually  under 
arms,  and  are  ready  to  make  good  their  words  by  exposing 
their  bodies  in  battle. 

I  walked  home  with  Mr.  N.  P.  Willis,  who  is  at  Washing 
ton  for  the  purpose  of  writing  sketches  to  the  little  family 
journal  of  which  he  is  editor,  and  giving  war  "  anecdotes  ; " 
and  with  Mr.  Olmsted,  who  is  acting  as  a  member  of  the  New 
York  Sanitary  Commission,  here  authorized  by  the  Govern 
ment  to  take  measures  against  the  reign  of  dirt  and  disease  in 
the  Federal  camp.  The  Republicans  are  very  much  afraid 
that  there  is,  even  at  the  present  moment,  a  conspiracy  against 
the  Union  in  Washington  —  nay,  in  Congress  itself;  and  re 
gard  Mr.  Breckinridge,  Mr.  Bayard,  Mr.  Vallandigham,  and 
others  as  most  dangerous  enemies,  who  should  not  be  per 
mitted  to  remain  in  the  capital.  I  attended  the  Episcopal 


392  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

church  and  heard  a  very  excellent  discourse,  free  from  any 
political  allusion.  The  service  differs  little  from  our  own, 
except  that  certain  euphemisms  are  introduced  in  the  Litany 
and  elsewhere,  and  the  prayers  for  Queen  and  Parliament 
are  offered  up  nomine  mutato  for  President  and  Congress. 


CHAPTER  XLVL 

Arlington  Heights  and  the  Potomac  —  Washington  —  The  Federal 
camp  —  General  McDowell  —  Flying  rumors  —  Newspaper  corre 
spondents  —  General  Fremont  —  Silencing  the  Press  and  Tele 
graph —  A  Loan  Bill  —  Interview  with  Mr.  Cameron  —  Newspa 
per  criticism  on  Lord  Lyons  —  Rumors  about  McClellan  —  The 
Northern  army  as  reported  and  as  it  is  —  General  McClellan. 

July  8th.  —  I  hired  a  horse  at  a  livery  stable,  and  rode  out 
to  Arlington  Heights,  at  the  other  side  of  the  Potomac,  where 
the  Federal  army  is  encamped,  if  not  on  the  sacred  soil  of 
Virginia,  certainly  on  the  soil  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
ceded  by  that  State  to  Congress  for  the  purposes  of  the  Fed 
eral  Government.  The  Long  Bridge  which  spans  the  river, 
here  more  than  a  mile  broad,  is  an  ancient  wooden  and  brick 
structure,  partly  of  causeway,  and  partly  of  platform,  laid  on 
piles  and  uprights,  with  drawbridges  for  vessels  to  pass.  The 
Potomac,  which  in  peaceful  times  is  covered  with  small  craft, 
now  glides  in  a  gentle  current  over  the  shallows  unbroken  by 
a  solitary  sail.  The  "  rebels  "  hare  established  batteries  be 
low  Mount  Vernon,  which  partially  command  the  river,  and 
place  the  city  in  a  state  of  blockade* 

As  a  consequence  of  the  magnificent  conceptions  which 
were  entertained  by  the  founders  regarding  the  future  dimen 
sions  of  their  future  city,  Washington  is  all  suburb  and  no 
city.  The  only  difference  between  the  denser  streets  and  the 
remoter  village-like  environs,  is  that  the  houses  are  better  and 
more  frequent,  and  the  roads  not  quite  so  bad  in  the  former. 
The  road  to  the  Long  Bridge  passes  by  a  four-sided  shaft  of 
blocks  of  white  marble,  contributed,  with  appropriate  mottoes, 
by  the  various  States,  as  a  fitting  monument  to  Washington. 
It  is  not  yet  completed,  and  the  materials  lie  in  the  field 
around,  just  as  the  Capitol  and  the  Treasury  are  surrounded 
by  the  materials  for  their  future  and  final  development. 
Further  on  is  the  red,  and  rather  fantastic,  pile  of  the  Smith 
sonian  Institute,  and  then  the  road  makes  a  dip  to  the  bridge, 
past  some  squalid  little  cottages,  and  the  eye  reposes  on  the 
17* 


394  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

shore  of  Virginia,  rising  in  successive  folds,  and  richly  wooded, 
up  to  a  moderate  height  from  the  water.  Through  the  green 
forest  leaves  gleams  the  white  canvas  of  the  tents,  and  on  the 
highest  ridge  westward  rises  an  imposing  structure,  with  a 
portico  and  colonnade  in  front,  facing  the  river,  which  is  called 
Arlington  House,  and  belongs,  by  descent,  through  Mr.  Custis, 
from  the  wife  of  George  Washington,  to  General  Lee,  Com- 
mander-in- Chief  of  the  Confederate  army.  It  is  now  occu 
pied  by  General  McDowell  as  his  head-quarters,  and  a  large 
United  States  flag  floats  from  the  roof,  which  shames  even 
the  ample  proportions  of  the  many  stars  and  stripes  rising  up 
from  the  camps  in  the  trees. 

At  the  bridge  there  was  a  post  of  volunteer  soldiers.  The 
sentry  on  duty  was  sitting  on  a  stump,  with  his  firelock  across 
his  knees,  reading  a  newspaper.  He  held  out  his  hand  for 
my  pass,  which  was  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  written  by  General 
Scott,  and  ordering  all  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army  of  the 
Potomac  to  permit  me  to  pass  freely  without  let  or  hindrance, 
and  recommending  me  to  the  attention  of  Brigadier-General 
McDowell  and  all  officers  under  his  orders.  "  That'll  do  ;  you 
may  go,"  said  the  sentry.  "What  pass  is  that,  Abe?"  in 
quired  a  non-commissioned  officer.  "  It's  from  General  Scott, 
and  says  he's  to  go  wherever  he  likes."  "  I  hope  you'll  go 
right  away  to  Richmond,  then,  and  get  Jeff  Davis's  scalp  for 
us,"  said  the  patriotic  sergeant. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  bridge  a  weak  tete  de  pont,  com 
manded  by  a  road-work  farther  on,  covered  the  approach,  and 
turning  to  the  right  I  passed  through  a  maze  of  camps,  in 
front  of  which  the  various  regiments,  much  better  than  I  ex 
pected  to  find  them,  broken  up  into  small  detachments,  were 
learning  elementary  drill.  A  considerable  number  of  the  men 
were  Germans,  and  the  officers  were  for  the  most  part  in  a 
state  of  profound  ignorance  of  company  drill,  as  might  be  seen 
by  their  confusion  and  inability  to  take  their  places  when  the 
companies  faced  about,  or  moved  from  one  flank  to  the  other. 
They  were  by  no  means  equal  in  size  or  age,  and,  with  some 
splendid  exceptions,  were  inferior  to  the  Southern  soldiers- 
The  camps  were  dirty,  no  latrines  —  the  tents  of  various  pat 
terns  —  but  on  the  whole  they  were  well  castrametated. 

The  road  to  Arlington  House  passed  through  some  of  the 
finest  woods  I  have  yet  seen  in  America,  but  the  axe  wa? 
already  busy  amongst  them,  and  the  trunks  of  giant  oaks  were 
prostrate  on  the  ground.  The  tents  of  the  General  and  his 


AN  AMERICAN  GENERAL'S  STAFF.  395 

small  staff  were  pitched  on  the  little  plateau  in  which  stood 
the  house,  and  from  it  a  very  striking  and  picturesque  view 
of  the  city,  with  the  White  House,  the  Treasury,  the  Post- 
Office,  Patent-Office,  and  Capitol,  was  visible,  and  a  wide 
spread  of  country,  studded  with  tents  also  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach,  towards  Maryland.  There  were  only  four  small 
tents  for  the  whole  of  the  head-quarters  of  the  grand  army  of 
the  Potomac,  and  in  front  of  one  we  found  General  McDowell, 
seated  in  a  chair,  examining  some  plans  and  maps.  His  per 
sonal  staff,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  consisted  of  Mr.  Clarence 
Brown,  who  came  over  with  me,  and  three  other  officers,  but 
there  were  a  few  connected  with  the  departments  at  work  in  the 
rooms  of  Arlington  House.  I  made  some  remark  on  the  subject 
to  the  General,  who  replied  that  there  was  great  jealousy  on 
the  part  of  the  civilians  respecting  the  least  appearance  of  dis 
play,  and  that  as  he  was  only  a  brigadier,  though  he  was  in 
command  of  such  a  large  army,  he  was  obliged  to  be  content 
with  a  brigadier's  staff.  Two  untidy-looking  orderlies,  with 
ill-groomed  horses,  near  the  house,  were  poor  substitutes  for 
the  force  of  troopers  one  would  see  in  attendance  on  a  General 
in  Europe,  but  the  use  of  the  telegraph  obviates  the  necessity 
of  employing  couriers.  I  went  over  some  of  the  camps  with 
the  General.  The  artillery  is  the  most  efficient-looking  arm 
of  the  service,  but  the  horses  are  too  light,  and  the  number  of 
the  different  calibres  quite  destructive  to  continuous  efficiency 
in  action.  Altogether  I  was  not  favorably  impressed  with 
what  I  saw,  for  I  had  been  led  by  reiterated  statements  to 
believe  to  some  extent  the  extravagant  stories  of  the  papers, 
and  expected  to  find  upwards  of  100,000  men  in  the  highest 
state  of  efficiency,  whereas  there  were  not  more  than  a  third 
of  the  number,  and  those  in  a  very  incomplete,  ill-disciplined 
state.  Some  of  these  regiments  were  called  out  under  the 
President's  proclamation  for  three  months  only,  and  will  soon 
have  served  their  full  time,  and  as  it  is  very  likely  they  will 
go  home,  now  the  bubbles  of  national  enthusiasm  have  all 
escaped,  General  Scott  is  urged  not  to  lose  their  services,  but 
to  get  into  Richmond  before  they  are  disbanded. 

It  would  scarcely  be  credited,  were  I  not  told  it  by  General 
McDowell,  that  there  is  no  such  thing  procurable  as  a  decent 
map  of  Virginia.  He  knows  little  or  nothing  of  the  country 
before  him,  more  than  the  general  direction  of  the  main  roads, 
which  are  bad  at  the  best ;  and  he  can  obtain  no  information, 
inasmuch  as  the  enemy  are  in  full  force  all  along  his  front, 


396  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

and  he  has  not  a  cavalry  officer  capable  of  conducting  a  recon- 
noissance,  which  would  be  difficult  enough  in  the  best  hands, 
owing  to  the  dense  woods  which  rise  up  in  front  of  his  lines, 
screening  the  enemy  completely.  The  Confederates  have 
thrown  up  very  heavy  batteries  at  Manassas,  about  thirty 
miles  away,  where  the  railway  from  the  West  crosses  the  line 
to  Richmond,  and  I  do  not  think  General  McDowell  much 
likes  the  look  of  them,  but  the  cry  for  action  is  so  strong  the 
President  cannot  resist  it. 

On  my  way  back  I  rode  through  the  woods  of  Arlington,  and 
came  out  on  a  quadrangular  earthwork,  called  Fort  Corcoran, 
which  is  garrisoned  by  the  Sixty-ninth  Irish,  and  commands 
the  road  leading  to  an  aqueduct  and  horse-bridge  over  the 
Potomac.  The  regiment  is  encamped  inside  the  fort,  which 
would  be  a  slaughter-pen  if  exposed  to  shell-fire.  The  streets 
were  neat,  the  tents  protected  from  the  sun  by  shades  of  ever 
greens  and  pine  boughs.  One  little  door,  like  that  of  an  ice 
house,  half  buried  in  the  ground,  was  opened  by  one  of  the 
soldiers,  who  was  showing  it  to  a  friend,  when  my  attention 
was  more  particularly  attracted  by  a  sergeant,  who  ran  for 
ward  in  great  dudgeon,  exclaiming  "  Dempsey  !  Is  that  you 
going  into  the  '  magazine,'  wid  yer  pipe  lighted  ? "  I  rode 
away  with  alacrity. 

In  the  course  of  my  ride  I  heard  occasional  dropping  shots 
in  camp.  To  my  looks  of  inquiry,  an  engineer  officer  said 
quietly,  "  They  are  volunteers  shooting  themselves."  The 
number  of  accidents  from  the  carelessness  of  the  men  is  aston 
ishing  ;  in  every  day's  paper  there  is  an  account  of  deaths  and 
wounds  caused  by  the  discharge  of  firearms  in  the  tents. 

Whilst  I  was  at  Arlington  House,  walking  through  the  camp 
attached  to  head-quarters,  I  observed  a  tall,  red-bearded  officer 
seated  on  a  chair  in  front  of  one  of  the  tents,  who  bowed  as  I 
passed  him,  and  as  I  turned  to  salute  him,  my  eye  was  caught 
by  the  apparition  of  a  row  of  Palmetto  buttons  down  his  coat. 
One  of  the  officers  standing  by  said,  "  Let  me  introduce  you  to 
Captain  Taylor,  from  the  other  side."  It  appears  that  he  came 
in  with  a  flag  of  truce,  bearing  a  despatch  from  Jefferson  Davis 
to  President  Lincoln,  countersigned  by  General  Beauregard  at 
Manassas.  Just  as  I  left  Arlington,  a  telegraph  was  sent  from 
General  Scott  to  send  Captain  Taylor,  who  rejoices  in  the 
name  of  Tom,  over  to  his  quarters. 

The  most  absurd  rumors  were  flying  about  the  staff,  one  of 
whom  declared  very  positively  that  there  was  going  to  be  a 


GENERAL  FREMONT.  397 

compromise,  and  that  Jeff  Davis  had  made  an  overture  for 
peace.  The  papers  are  filled  with  accounts  of  an  action  in 
Missouri,  at  a  place  called  Carthage,  between  the  Federals 
commanded  by  Colonel  Sigel,  consisting  for  the  most  part  of 
Germans,  and  the  Confederates  under  General  Parsons,  in 
which  the  former  were  obliged  to  retreat,  although  it  is  admit 
ted  the  State  troops  were  miserably  armed,  and  had  most  in 
effective  artillery,  whilst  their  opponents  had  every  advantage 
in  both  respects,  and  were  commanded  by  officers  of  European 
experience.  Captain  Taylor  had  alluded  to  the  news  in  a 
jocular  way  to  me,  and  said,  "  I  hope  you  will  tell  the  people 
in  England  we  intend  to  whip  the  Lincolnites  in  the  same 
fashion  wherever  we  meet  them,"  a  remark  which  did  not  lead 
me  to  believe  there  was  any  intention  on  the  part  of  the  Con 
federates  to  surrender  so  easily. 

July  2th. —  Late  last  night  the  President  told  General  Scott 
to  send  Captain  Taylor  back  to  the  Confederate  lines,  and  he 
was  accordingly  escorted  to  Arlington  in  a  carriage,  and  thence 
returned  without  any  answer  to  Mr.  Davis's  letter,  the  nature 
of  which  has  not  transpired. 

A  swarm  of  newspaper  correspondents  has  settled  down 
upon  Washington,  and  great  are  the  glorifications  of  the  high- 
toned  paymasters,  gallant  doctors,  and  subalterns  accomplished 
in  the  art  of  war,  who  furnish  minute  items  to  my  American 
brethren,  and  provide  the  yeast  which  overflows  in  many  col 
umns  ;  but  the  Government  experience  the  inconvenience  of 
the  smallest  movements  being  chronicled  for  the  use  of  the 
enemy,  who,  by  putting  one  thing  and  another  together,  are  no 
doubt  enabled  to  collect  much  valuable  information.  Every 
preparation  is  being  made  to  put  the  arrny  on  a  war  foot 
ing,  to  provide  them  with  shoes,  ammunition  wagons,  and 
horses. 

I  had  the  honor  of  dining  with  General  Scott,  who  has 
moved  to  new  quarters,  near  the  War  Department,  and  met 
General  Fremont,  who  is  designated,  according  to  rumor,  to 
take  command  of  an  important  district  in  the  West,  and  to 
dear  the  right  bank  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  course  of  the 
Missouri.  "  The  Pathfinder  "  is  a  strong  Republican  and  Abo 
litionist,  whom  the  Germans  delight  to  honor,  —  a  man  with  a 
dreamy,  deep  blue  eye,  a  gentlemanly  address,  pleasant  features, 
and  an  active  frame,  but  without  the  smallest  external  indica 
tion  of  extraordinary  vigor,  intelligence,  or  ability  ;  if  he  has 
military  genius,  it  must  come  by  intuition,  for  assuredly  he  has 


398  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

no  professional  acquirements  or  experience.  Two  or  three 
members  of  Congress,  and  the  General's  staff,  and  Mr.  Bige- 
low,  completed  the  company.  The  General  has  become  visi 
bly  weaker  since  I  first  saw  him.  He  walks  down  to  his 
office,  close  at  hand,  with  difficulty ;  returns  a  short  time  be 
fore  dinner,  and  reposes ;  and  when  he  has  dismissed  his 
guests  at  an  early  hour,  or  even  before  he  does  so,  stretches 
himself  on  his  bed,  and  then  before  midnight  rouses  himself 
to  look  at  despatches  or  to  transact  any  necessary  business. 
In  case  of  an  action  it  is  his  intention  to  proceed  to  the  field 
in  a  light  carriage,  which  is  always  ready  for  the  purpose,  with 
horses  and  driver ;  nor  is  he  unprepared  with  precedents  of 
great  military  commanders  who  have  successfully  conducted 
engagements  under  similar  circumstances. 

Although  the  discussion  of  military  questions  and  of  poli 
tics  was  eschewed,  incidental  allusions  were  made  to  matters 
going  on  around  us,  and  I  thought  I  could  perceive  that  the 
General  regarded  the  situation  with  much  more  apprehension 
than  the  politicians,  and  that  his  influence  extended  itself  to 
the  views  of  his  staff.  General  Fremont's  tone  was  much 
more  confident.  Nothing  has  become  known  respecting  the 
nature  of  Mr.  Davis's  communication  to  President  Lincoln, 
but  the  fact  of  his  sending  it  at  all  is  looked  upon  as  a  piece 
of  monstrous  impertinence.  The  General  is  annoyed  and  dis 
tressed  by  the  plundering  propensities  of  the  Federal  troops, 
who  have  been  committing  terrible  depredations  on  the  people 
of  Virginia.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  Ger 
mans,  who  have  entered  upon  this  campaign  as  mercenaries, 
will  desist  from  so  profitable  and  interesting  a  pursuit  as  the 
detection  of  Secesh  sentiments,  chickens,  watches,  horses,  and 
dollars.  I  mentioned  that  I  had  seen  some  farm-houses  com 
pletely  sacked  close  to  the  aqueduct.  The  General  merely 
said,  "  It  is  deplorable  !  "  and  raised  up  his  hands  as  if  in  dis 
gust.  General  Fremont,  however,  said,  "  I  suppose  you  are 
familiar  with  similar  scenes  in  Europe.  I  hear  the  allies  were 
not  very  particular  with  respect  to  private  property  in  Russia" 
—  a  remark  which  unfortunately  could  not  be  gainsaid.  As  I 
was  leaving  the  General's  quarters,  Mr.  Blair,  accompanied 
by  the  President,  who  was  looking  more  anxious  than  I  had 
yet  seen  him,  drove  up,  arid  passed  through  a  crowd  of  sol 
diers,  who  had  evidently  been  enjoying  themselves.  One  of 
them  called  out,  "  Three  cheers  for  General  Scott ! "  and  I  am 
not  quite  sure  the  President  did  not  join  him. 


THE  LOAN  BILL.  399 

July  \§th.  —  To-day  was  spent  in  a  lengthy  excursion  along 
the  front  of  the  camp  in  Virginia,  round  by  the  chain  bridge 
which  crosses  the  Potomac  about  four  miles  from  Washing 
ton. 

The  Government  have  been  coerced,  as  they  say,  by  the 
safety  of  the  Republic,  to  destroy  the  liberty  of  the  press, 
which  is  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,  and  this  is  not  the 
first  instance  in  which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
will  be  made  nominis  umbra.  The  telegraph,  according  to 
General  Scott's  order,  confirmed  by  the  Minister  of  War, 
Simon  Cameron,  is  to  convey  no  dispatches  respecting  military 
movements  not  permitted  by  the  General ;  and  to-day  the 
newspaper  correspondents  have  agreed  to  yield  obedience  to 
the  order,  reserving  to  themselves  a  certain  freedom  of  detail 
in  writing  their  despatches,  and  relying  on  the  Government  to 
publish  the  official  accounts  of  all  battles  very  speedily. 
They  will  break  this  agreement  if  they  can,  and  the  Govern 
ment  will  not  observe  their  part  of  the  bargain.  The  freedom 
of  the  press,  as  I  take  it,  does  not  include  the  right  to  publish 
news  hostile  to  the  cause  of  the  country  in  which  it  is  pub 
lished  ;  neither  can  it  involve  any  obligation  on  the  part  of 
Government  to  publish  despatches  which  may  be  injurious  to 
the  party  they  represent.  There  is  a  wide  distinction  be 
tween  the  publication  of  news  which  is  known  to  the  enemy 
as  soon  as  to  the  friends  of  the  transmitters,  and  the  utmost 
freedom  of  expression  concerning  the  acts  of  the  Government 
or  the  conduct  of  past  events  ;  but  it  will  be  difficult  to  estab 
lish  any  rule  to  limit  or  extend  the  boundaries  to  which  discus 
sion  can  go  without  mischief,  and  in  effect  the  only  solution  of 
the  difficulty  in  a  free  country  seems  to  be  to  grant  the  press 
free  license,  in  consideration  of  the  enormous  aid  it  affords  in 
warning  the  people  of  their  danger,  in  animating  them  with 
the  news  of  their  successes,  and  in  sustaining  the  Government 
in  their  efforts  to  conduct  the  war. 

The  most  important  event  to-day  is  the  passage  of  the  Loan 
Bill,  which  authorizes  Mr.  Chase  to  borrow,  in  the  next  year, 
a  sum  of  £50,000,000,  on  coupons,  with  interest  at  seven  per 
cent.,  and  irredeemable  for  twenty  years  —  the  interest  being 
guaranteed  on  a  pledge  of  the  Customs  duties.  I  just  got 
into  the  House  in  time  to  hear  Mr.  Vallandigham,  who  is  an  ul 
tra  Democrat,  and  very  nearly  a  Secessionist,  conclude  a  well- 
delivered  argumentative  address.  He  is  a  tall,  slight  man,  of 
a  bilious  temperament,  with  light  flashing  eyes,  dark  hair  and 


400  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

complexion,  and  considerable  oratorical  power.  "  Deem  me 
ef  I  wouldn't  just  ride  that  Vallandiggaim  on  a  reay-al,"  quoth 
a  citizen  to  his  friend,  as  the  speaker  sat  down,  amid  a  few  fee 
ble  expressions  of  assent.  Mr.  Chase  has  also  obtained  the 
consent  of  the  Lower  House  to  his  bill  for  closing  the  Southern 
ports  by  the  decree  of  the  President,  but  I  hear  some  more 
substantial  measures  are  in  contemplation  for  that  purpose. 
Whilst  the  House  is  finding  the  money  the  Government  are 
preparing  to  spend  it,  and  they  have  obtained  the  approval  of 
the  Senate  to  the  enrolment  of  half  a  million  of  men,  and  the 
expenditure  of  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  to  carry  on  the 
war. 

I  called  on  Mr.  Cameron,  the  Secretary  of  War.  The 
small  brick  house  of  two  stories,  with  long  passages,  in  which 
the  American  Mars  prepares  his  bolts,  was,  no  doubt,  large 
enough  for  the  20,000  men  who  constituted  the  armed  force  on 
land  of  the  great  Republic,  but  it  is  not  sufficient  to  contain  a 
tithe  of  the  contractors  who  haunt  its  precincts,  fill  all  the 
lobbies,  and  crowd  into  every  room.  With  some  risk  to  coat- 
tails,  I  squeezed  through  iron-masters,  gun-makers,  clothiers, 
shoemakers,  inventors,  bakers,  and  all  that  genus  which  fattens 
on  the  desolation  caused  by  an  army  in  the  field,  and  was  in 
troduced  to  Mr.  Cameron's  room,  where  he  was  seated  at  a 
desk  surrounded  by  people,  who  were  also  grouped  round  two 
gentlemen  as  clerks  in  the  same  small  room.  "  I  tell  you, 
General  Cameron,  that  the  way  in  which  the  loyal  men  of 
Missouri  have  been  treated  is  a  disgrace  to  this  Government," 
shouted  out  a  big,  black,  burly  man  —  "I  tell  you  so,  sir." 
"  AVell,  General,"  responded  Mr.  Cameron,  quietly,  "  so  you 
have  several  times.  Will  you,  once  for  all,  condescend  to  par 
ticulars  ?  "  "  Yes,  sir  ;  you  and  the  Government  have  disre 
garded  our  appeals.  You  have  left  us  to  fight  our  own  battles. 
You  have  not  sent  us  a  cent "  "There,  General,  I  in 
terrupt  you.  You  say  we  have  sent  you  no  money,"  said  Mr. 
Cameron,  very  quietly.  "  Mr.  Jones  will  be  good  enough  to 
ask  Mr.  Smith  to  step  in  here."  Before  Mr.  Smith  carne  in, 
however,  the  General,  possibly  thinking  some  member  of  the 
press  was  present,  rolled  his  eyes  in  a  Nicotian  frenzy,  and 
perorated :  "  The  people  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  sir,  will 
power-out  every  drop  of  the  blood  which  only  flows  to  warm 
patriotic  hearts  in  defence  of  the  great  Union,  which  offers 
freedom  to  the  enslaved  of  mankind,  and  a  home  to  persecuted 
progress,  and  a  few-ture  to  civil-zation.  We  demand,  General 


MR.   SECRETARY  CAMERON.  401 

Cameron,  in  the  neame  of  the  great  Western  State " 

Here  Mr.  Smith  came  in,  and  Mr.  Cameron  said,  "  I  want 
you  to  tell  me  what  disbursements,  if  any,  have  been  sent 
by  this  department  to  the  State  of  Missouri."  Mr.  Smith  was 
quick  at  figures,  and  up  in  his  accounts,  for  he  drew  out  a 
little  memorandum  book,  and  replied  (of  course,  I  can't  tell 
the  exact  sum),  "  General,  there  has  been  sent,  as  by  vouchers, 
to  Missouri,  since  the  beginning  of  the  levies,  six  hundred 
and  seventy  thousand  dollars  and  twenty-three  cents."  "  The 
General  looked  crestfallen,  but  he  was  equal  to  the  occasion, 
"  These  sums  may  have  been  sent,  sir,  but  they  have  not  been 

received.  I  declare  in  the  face  of "  "Mr.  Smith  will 

show  you  the  vouchers,  General,  and  you  can  then  take  any 
steps  needful  against  the  parties  who  have  misappropriated 
them." 

"  That  is  only  a  small  specimen  of  what  we  have  to  go 
through  with  our  people,"  said  the  Minister,  as  the  General 
went  off  with  a  lofty  toss  of  his  head,  and  then  gave  me  a 
pleasant  sketch  of  the  nature  of  the  applications  and  inter 
views  which  take  up  the  time  and  clog  the  movements  of  an 
American  statesman.  "  These  State  organizations  give  us  a 
great  deal  of  trouble."  I  could  fully  understand  that  they  did 
so.  The  immediate  business  that  I  had  with  Mr.  Cameron  — 
he  is  rarely  called  General  now  that  he  is  Minister  of  War  — 
was  to  ask  him  to  give  me  authority  to  draw  rations  at  cost 
price,  in  case  the  army  took  the  field  before  I  could  make 
arrangements,  and  he  seemed  very  well  disposed  to  accede  ; 
"  but  I  must  think  about  it,  for  I  shall  have  all  our  papers 
down  upon  me  if  I  grant  you  any  facility  which  they  do  not 
get  themselves."  After  I  left  the  War  Department,  1  took  a 
walk  to  Mr.  Seward's,  who  was  out.  In  passing  by  Presi 
dent's  Square,  I  saw  a  respectably-dressed  man  up  in  one  of 
the  trees,  cutting  off  pieces  of  the  bark,  which  his  friends  be 
neath  caught  up  eagerly.  I  could  not  help  stopping  to  ask 
what  was  the  object  of  the  proceeding.  "  Why,  sir,  this  is 

the  tree  Dan  Sickles  shot  Mr. under.  I  think  it's  quite 

a  remarkable  spot." 

July  llth.  —  The  diplomatic  circle  is  so  totus  teres  atque 
rotundus,  that  few  particles  of  dirt  stick  on  its  periphery  from 
the  road  over  which  it  travels.  The  radii  are  worked  from 
different  centres,  often  far  apart,  and  the  tires  and  naves  often 
fly  out  in  wide  divergence ;  but  for  all  social  purposes  is  a 
circle,  and  a  very  pleasant  one.  When  one  sees  M.  de 


402  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Stoeckle  speaking  to  M.  Mercier,  or  joining  in  with  Baron 
Gerolt  and  M.  de  Lisboa.  it  is  safer  to  infer  that  a  little  social 
reunion  is  at  hand  for  a  pleasant  civilized  discussion  of  ordi 
nary  topics,  some  music,  a  rubber,  and  a  dinner,  than  to  re 
solve  with  the  New  York  Correspondent,  "  that  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  a  diplomatic  movement  of  no  ordinary  signifi 
cance  is  on  foot,  and  that  the  Ministers  of  Russia,  France,  and 
Prussia  have  concerted  a  plan  of  action  with  the  representa 
tive  of  Brazil,  which  must  lead  to  extraordinary  complications, 
in  view  of  the  temporary  embarrassments  which  distract  our 
beloved  country.  The  Minister  of  England  has  held  aloof 
from  these  reunions  for  a  sinister  purpose  no  doubt,  and  we 
have  not  failed  to  discover  that  the  emissary  of  Austria,  and 
the  representative  of  Guatemala  have  abstained  from  taking 
part  in  these  significant  demonstrations.  We  tell  the  haughty 
nobleman  who  represents  Queen  Victoria,  on  whose  son  we  so 
lately  lavished  the  most  liberal  manifestations  of  our  good 
will,  to  beware.  The  motives  of  the  Court  of  Vienna,  and 
of  the  Republic  of  Guatemala,  in  ordering  their  representa 
tives  not  to  join  in  the  reunion  which  we  observed  at  three 
o'clock  to-day,  at  the  corner  of  Seventeenth  Street  and  One, 
are  perfectly  transparent ;  but  we  call  on  Mr.  Seward  in 
stantly  to  demand  of  Lord  Lyons  a  full  and  ample  explana 
tion  of  his  conduct  on  the  occasion,  or  the  transmission  of  his 
papers.  There  is  no  harm  in  adding,  that  we  have  every 
reason  to  think  our  good  ally  of  Russia,  and  the  minister  of 
the  astute  monarch,  who  is  only  watching  an  opportunity  of 
leading  a  Franco-American  army  to  the  Tower  of  London 
and  Dublin  Castle,  have  already  moved  their  respective  Gov 
ernments  to  act  in  the  premises." 

That  paragraph,  with  a  good  heading,  would  sell  several 
thousands  of  the  "New  York  Stabber"  to-morrow. 

July  12th.  —  There  are  rumors  that  the  Federals,  under 
Brigadier  McClellan,  who  have  advanced  into  Western  Vir 
ginia,  have  gained  some  successes  ;  but  so  far  it  seems  to  have 
no  larger  dimensions  than  the  onward  raid  of  one  clan  against 
another  in  the  Highlands.  And  whence  do  rumors  come  ? 
From  Government  departments,  which,  like  so  many  Danaes 
in  the  clerks'  rooms,  receive  the  visits  of  the  auriferous 
Jupiters  of  the  press,  who  condense  themselves  into  purvey 
ors  of  smashes,  slings,  baskets  of  champagne,  and  dinners. 
McClellan  is,  however,  considered  a  very  steady  and  respect 
able  professional  soldier.  A  friend  of  his  told  me  to-day  one 


THE  NORTHERN  ARMY.  403 

of  the  most  serious  complaints  the  Central  Illinois  Company- 
had  against  him  was  that,  during  the  Italian  war,  he  seemed 
to  forget  their  business  ;  and  that  lie  was  busied  with  maps 
stretched  out  on  the  floor,  whereupon  he,  superincumbent, 
penned  out  the  points  of  battle  and  strategy,  when  he  ought 
to  have  been  attending  to  passenger  trains  and  traffic.  That 
which  was  flat  blasphemy  in  a  railway  office,  may  be  amaz 
ingly  approved  in  the  field. 

July  13th.  —  I  have  had  a  long  day's  ride  through  the 
camps  of  the  various  regiments  across  the  Potomac,  and  at 
this  side  of  it,  which  the  weather  did  riot  render  very  agree 
able  to  myself,  or  the  poor  hack  that  I  had  hired  for  the  day, 
till  my  American  Quartermaine  gets  me  a  decent  mount.  I 
wished  to  see  with  my  own  eyes  what  is  the  real  condition 
of  the  army  which  the  North  have  sent  down  to  the  Potomac, 
to  undertake  such  a  vast  task  as  the  conquest  of  the  South. 
The  Northern  papers  describe  it  as  a  magnificent  force,  com 
plete  in  all  respects,  well-disciplined,  well-clad,  provided  with 
fine  artillery,  and  with  every  requirement  to  make  it  effective 
for  all  military  operations  in  the  field. 

In  one  word,  then,  they  are  grossly  and  utterly  ignorant  of 
what  an  army  is  or  should  be.  In  the  first  place,  there  are  not,  I 
should  think,  30,000  men  of  all  sorts  available  for  the  campaign. 
The  papers  estimate  it  at  any  number  from  50,000  to  100,000, 
giving  the  preference  to  75,000.  In  the  next  place  their  ar 
tillery  is  miserably  deficient ;  they  have  not,  I  should  think* 
more  than  five  complete  batteries,  or  six  batteries,  including 
scratch  guns,  and  these  are  of  different  calibres,  badly  horsed, 
miserably  equipped,  and  provided  with  the  worst  set  of  gun 
ners  and  drivers  which  I,  who  have  seen  the  Turkish  field-guns, 
ever  beheld.  They  have  no  cavalry,  only  a  few  scarecrow 
men,  who  would  dissolve  partnership  with  their  steeds  at  the 
first  serious  combined  movement,  mounted  in  high  saddles,  on 
wretched  mouthless  screws,  and  some  few  regulars  from  the 
frontiers,  who  may  be  good  for  Indians,  but  who  would  go 
over  like  ninepins  at  a  charge  from  Punjaubee  irregulars. 
Their  transport  is  tolerably  good,  but  inadequate  ;  they  have 
no  carriage  for  reserve  ammunition  ;  the  commissariat  drivers 
are  civilian?,  under  little  or  no  control ;  the  officers  are  un- 
soldierly-looking  men  ;  the  camps  are  dirty  to  excess  ;  the 
men  are  dressed  in  all  sorts  of  uniforms ;  and  from  what  F 
hear,  I  doubt  if  any  of  these  regiments  have  ever  performed 
a  brigade  evolution  together,  or  if  any  of  the  officers  know 


404  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

what  it  is  to  deploy  a  brigade  from  column  into  line.  They 
are  mostly  three  months'  men,  whose  time  is  nearly  up. 
They  were  rejoicing  to-day  over  the  fact  that  it  was  so,  and 
that  they  had  kept  the  enemy  from  Washington  "  without  a 
fight."  And  it  is  with  this  rabblement,  that  the  North  pro 
poses  not  only  to  subdue  the  South,  but  according  to  some  of 
their  papers,  to  humiliate  Great  Britain,  and  conquer  Canada 
afterwards. 

I  am  opposed  to  national  boasting,  but  I  do  firmly  believe 
that  10,000  British  regulars,  or  12,000  French,  with  a  proper 
establishment  of  artillery  and  cavalry,  would  not  only  entirely 
repulse  this  army  with  the  greatest  ease,  under  competent 
commanders,  but  that  they  could  attack  them  and  march  into 
Washington,  over  them  or  with  them,  whenever  they  pleased. 
Not  that  Frenchman  or  Englishman  is  perfection,  but  that  the 
American  of  this  army  knows  nothing  of  discipline,  and  what 
is  more,  cares  less  for  it. 

Major- General  McClellan  —  I  beg  his  pardon  for  styling  him 
Brigadier  —  has  really  been  successful.  By  a  very  well-con 
ducted  and  rather  rapid  march,  he  was  enabled  to  bring 
superior  forces  to  bear  on  some  raw  levies  under  General 
Garnett  (who  came  over  with  me  in  the  steamer),  which  fled 
after  a  few  shots,  and  were  utterly  routed,  when  their  gallant 
commander  fell,  in  an  abortive  attempt  to  rally  them  by  the 
banks  of  the  Cheat  River.  In  this  "  great  battle  "  McClellan's 
loss  is  less  than  thirty  killed  and  wounded,  and  the  Confederate 
loss  is  less  than  one  hundred.  But  the  dispersion  of  such 
guerrilla  bands  has  the  most  useful  etfect  among  the  people  of 
the  district;  and  McClellan  has  done  good  service,  especially 
as  his  little  victory  will  lead  to  the  discomfiture  of  all  the 
Secessionists  in  the  valley  of  the  Kanawha,  and  in  the  val 
ley  of  Western  Virginia.  I  left  Washington  this  afternoon, 
with  the  Sanitary  Commissioners,  for  Baltimore,  in  order  to 
visit  the  Federal  camps  at  Fortress  Monroe,  to  which  we  pro 
ceeded  down  the  Chesapeake  the  same  night. 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 

Fortress  Monroe  —  General  Butler  —  Hospital  accommodation  — 
"Wounded  soldiers  —  Aristocratic  pedigrees  —  A  great  gun  — 
Newport  News  —  Fraudulent  contractors  —  General  Butler  — 
Artillery  practice  —  Contraband  negroes  —  Confederate  lines  — 
Tombs  of  American  loyalists  —  Troops  and  contractors  —  Dur- 
yea's  New  York  Zouaves  —  Military  calculations  —  A  voyage  by 
steamer  to  Annapolis. 

July  Ikth.  —  At  six  o'clock  this  morning  the  steamer  arrived 
at  the  wharf  under  the  walls  of  Fortress  Monroe,  which  pre 
sented  a  very  different  appearance  from  the  quiet  of  its  aspect 
when  first  I  saw  it,  some  months  ago.  Camps  spread  around 
it,  the  parapets  lined  with  sentries,  guns  looking  out  towards 
the  land,  lighters  and  steamers  alongside  the  wharf,  a  strong 
guard  at  the  end  of  the  pier,  passes  to  be  scrutinized  and  per 
mits  to  be  given.  I  landed  with  the  members  of  the  Sanitary 
Commission,  and  repaired  to  a  very  large  pile  of  buildings, 
called  "  The  Hygeia  Hotel,"  for  once  on  a  time  Fortress  Mon 
roe  was  looked  upon  as  the  resort  of  the  sickly,  who  required 
bracing  air  and  an  abundance  of  oysters ;  it  is  now  occupied 
by  the  wounded  in  the  several  actions  and  skirmishes  which 
have  taken  place,  particularly  at  Bethel ;  and  it  is  so  densely 
crowded  that  we  had  difficulty  in  procuring  the  use  of  some 
small  dirty  rooms  to  dress  in.  As  the  business  of  the  Com 
mission  was  principally  directed  to  ascertain  the  state  of  the 
hospitals,  they  considered  it  necessary  in  the  first  instance  to 
visit  General  Butler,  the  commander  of  the  post,  who  has  been 
recommending  himself  to  the  Federal  Government  by  his  ac 
tivity  ever  since  he  came  down  to  Baltimore,  and  the  whole 
body  marched  to  the  fort,  crossing  the  drawbridge  after  some 
parley  with  the  guard,  and  received  permission,  on  the  pro 
duction  of  passes,  to  enter  the  court. 

The  interior  of  the  work  covers  a  space  of  about  seven  or 
eight  acres,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  and  is  laid  out  with  some 
degree  of  taste  :  rows  of  fine  trees  border  the  walks  through 
the  grass  plots ;  the  officers'  quarters,  neat  and  snug,  are  sur- 


406  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

rounded  with  little  patches  of  flowers,  and  covered  with  creep 
ers.  All  order  and  neatness,  however,  were  fast  disappearing 
beneath  the  tramp  of  mailed  feet,  for  at  least  1200  men  had 
pitched  their  tents  inside  the  place.  We  sent  in  our  names  to 
the  General,  who  lives  in  a  detached  house  close  to  the  sea 
face  of  the  fort,  and  sat  down  on  a  bench  under  the  shade  of 
some  trees,  to  avoid  the  excessive  heat  of  the  sun  until  the 
commander  of  the  place  could  receive  the  Commissioners. 
He  was  evidently  in  no  great  hurry  to  do  so.  In  about  half 
an  hour  an  aide-de-camp  came  out  to  say  that  the  General 
was  getting  up,  and  that  he  would  see  us  after  breakfast. 
Some  of  the  Commissioners,  from  purely  sanitary  considera 
tions,  would  have  been  much  better  pleased  to  have  seen  him 
at  breakfast,  as  they  had  only  partaken  of  a  very  light  meal 
on  board  the  steamer  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning ;  but  we 
were  interested  meantime  by  the  morning  parade  of  a  portion 
of  the  garrison,  consisting  of  300  regulars,  a  Massachusetts 
volunteer  battalion,  and  the  2d  New  York  Regiment. 

It  was  quite  refreshing  to  the  eye  to  see  the  cleanliness  of 
the  regulars  —  their  white  gloves  and  belts,  and  polished  but 
tons,  contrasted  with  the  slovenly  aspect  of  the  volunteers  ; 
but,  as  far  as  the  material  went,  the  volunteers  had  by  far  the 
best  of  the  comparison.  The  civilians  who  were  with  me  did 
not  pay  much  attention  to  the  regulars,  and  evidently  pre 
ferred  the  volunteers,  although  they  could  not  be  insensible  to 
the  magnificent  drum-major  who  led  the  band  of  the  regulars. 
Presently  General  Butler  came  out  of  his  quarters,  and  walk 
ed  down  t'he  lines,  followed  by  a  few  officers.  He  is  a  stout, 
middle-aged  man,  strongly  built,  with  coarse  limbs,  his  fea 
tures  indicative  of  great  shrewdness  and  craft,  his  forehead 
high,  the  elevation  being  in  some  degree  due  perhaps  to  the 
want  of  hair ;  with  a  strong  obliquity  of  vision,  which  may 
perhaps  have  been  caused  by  an  injury,  as  the  eyelid  hangs 
with  a  peculiar  droop  over  the  organ. 

The  General,  whose  manner  is  quick,  decided,  and  abrupt, 
but  not  at  all  rude  or  unpleasant,  at  once  acceded  to  the 
wishes  of  the  Sanitary  Commissioners,  and  expressed  his  de 
sire  to  make  my  stay  at  the  fort  as  agreeable  and  useful  as 
he  could.  "  You  can  first  visit  the  hospitals  in  company  with 
these  gentlemen,  and  then  come  over  with  me  to  our  camp, 
where  I  will  show  you  everything  that  is  to  be  seen.  I  have 
ordered  a  steamer  to  be  in  readiness  to  take  you  to  Newport 
News."  He  speaks  rapidly,  and  either  affects  or  possesses 


A  NATIONAL  DIFFERENCE.  407 

great  decision.  The  Commissioners  accordingly  proceeded  to 
make  the  most  of  their  time  in  visiting  the  Hygeia  Hotel, 
being  accompanied  by  the  medical  officers  of  the  garrison. 

The  rooms,  but  a  short  time  ago  occupied  by  the  fair  ladies 
of  Virginia,  when  they  came  down  to  enjoy  the  sea-breezes, 
were  now  crowded  with  Federal  soldiers,  many  of  them  suffer 
ing  from  the  loss  of  limb  or  serious  wflunds,  others  from  the 
worst  form  of  camp  disease.  I  enjoyed  a  small  national 
triumph  over  Dr.  Bellows,  the  chief  of  the  Commission 
ers,  who  is  of  the  "  sangre  azul "  of  Yankeeism,  by  which 
I  mean  that  he  is  a  believer,  not  in  the  perfectibility,  but 
in  the  absolute  perfection,  of  New  England  nature  which 
is  the  only  human  nature  that  is  not  utterly  lost  and  aban 
doned  —  Old  England  nature,  perhaps,  being  the  worst  of 
all.  We  had  been  speaking  to  the  wounded  men  in  several 
rooms,  and  found  most  of  them  either  in  the  listless  condition 
consequent  upon  exhaustion,  or  with  that  anxious  air  which  is 
often  observable  on  the  faces  of  the  wounded  when  strangers 
approach.  At  last  we  came  into  a  room  in  which  two  soldiers 
were  sitting  up,  the  first  we  had  seen,  reading  the  newspapers. 
Dr.  Bellows  asked  where  they  came  from  ;  one  was  from  Con 
cord,  the  other  from  New  Haven.  "  You  see,  Mr.  Russell," 
said  Dr.  Bellows,  "  how  our  Yankee  soldiers  spend  their  time. 
I  knew  at  once  they  were  Americans  when  I  saw  them  read 
ing  newspapers."  One  of  them  had  his  hand  shattered  by  a 
bullet,  the  other  was  suffering  from  a  gun-shot  wound  through 
the  body.  "Where  were  you  hit?"  I  inquired  of  the  first. 
"  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  guess  my  rifle  went  off  when  I  was 
cleaning  it  in  camp."  "  Were  you  wounded  at  Bethel  ?  "  I 
asked  of  the  second.  "  No,  sir,"  he  replied ;  "  I  got  this 
wound  from  a  comrade,  who  discharged  his  piece  by  accident 
in  one  of  the  tents  as  I  was  standing  outside."  "  So,"  said  I, 
to  Dr.  Bellows,  "  whilst  the  Britishers  and  Germans  are  en 
gaged  with  the  enemy,  you  Americans  employ  your  time 
shooting  each  other  !  " 

These  men  were  true  mercenaries,  for  they  were  fighting 
for  money  —  I  mean  the  strangers.  One  poor  fellow  from 
Devonshire  said,  as  he  pointed  to  his  ««tump,  "  I  wish  I  had 
lost  it  for  the  sake  of  the  old  island,  sir,"  paraphrasing  Sars- 
field's  exclamation  as  he  lay  dying  on  the  field.  The  Amer 
icans  were  fighting  for  the  combined  excellences  and  strength 
of  the  States  of  New  England,  and  of  the  rest  of  the  Fed 
eral  power  over  the  Confederates,  for  they  could  not  in  their 


408  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

heart  of  hearts  believe  the  Old  Union  could  be  restored  by 
force  of  arms.  Lovers  may  quarrel  and  may  reunite,  but  if 
a  blow  is  struck  there  is  no  redintegratio  amoris  possible  again. 
The  newspapers  and  illustrated  periodicals  which  they  read 
were  the  pabulum  that  fed  the  flames  of  patriotism  incessantly. 
Such  capacity  for  enormous  lying,  both  in  creation  and  ab 
sorption,  the  world  ndver  heard.  Sufficient  for  the  hour  is 
the  falsehood. 

There  were  lady  nurses  in  attendance  on  the  patients  ;  who 
followed  —  let  us  believe,  as  I  do,  out  of  some  higher  motive 
than  the  mere  desire  of  human  praise  —  the  example  of  Miss 
Nightingale.  I  loitered  behind  in  the  rooms,  asking  many 
questions  respecting  the  nationality  of  the  men,  in  which  the 
members  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  took  no  interest,  and  I 
was  just  turning  into  one  near  the  corner  of  the  passage  when 
I  was  stopped  by  a  loud  smack.  A  young  Scotchman  was 
dividing  his  attention  between  a  basin  of  soup  and  a  demure 
young  lady  from  Philadelphia,  who,  was  feeding  him  with  a 
spoon,  his  only  arm  being  engaged  in  holding  her  round  the 
waist,  in  order  to  prevent  her  being  tired,  I  presume.  Miss 
Rachel,  or  Deborah,  had  a  pair  of  very  pretty  blue  eyes,  but 
they  flashed  very  angrily  from  under  her  trim  little  cap  at  the 
unwitting  intruder,  and  then  she  said,  in  severest  tones,  "  Will 
you  take  your  medicine,  or  not  ? "  Sandy  smiled,  and  pre 
tended  to  be  very  penitent. 

When  we  returned  with  the  doctors  from  our  inspection  we 
walked  around  the  parapets  of  the  fortress,  why  so  called  I 
know  not,  because  it  is  merely  a  fort.  The  guns  and  mortars 
are  old-fashioned  and  heavy,  with  the  exception  of  some  new- 
fashioned  and  very  heavy  Columbiads,  which  are  cast-iron 
eight,  ten,  and  twelve-inch  guns,  in  which  I  have  no  faith  what 
ever.  The  armament  is  not  sufficiently  powerful  to  prevent  its 
interior  being  searched  out  by  the  long-range  fire  of  ships  with 
rifle  guns,  or  mortar  boats  ;  but  it  would  require  closer  and 
harder  work  to  breach  the  masses  of  brick  and  masonry  which 
constitute  the  parapets  and  casemates.  The  guns,  carriages, 
rammers,  shot,  were  dirty,  rusty,  and  neglected ;  but  General 
Butler  told  me  he  was  busy  polishing  up  things  about  the 
fortress  as  fast  as  he  could. 

Whilst  we  were  parading  these  hot  walls  in  the  sunshine, 
my  companions  were  discussing  the  question  of  ancestry.  It 
appears  your  New  Englander  is  very  proud  of  his  English  de 
scent  from  good  blood,  and  it  is  one  of  their  is  msin  the  Yan- 


THE  "UNION"  GUN.  409 

kee  States  that  they  are  the  salt  of  the  British  people  and  the 
true  aristocracy  of  blood  and  family,  whereas  we  in  the  isles 
retain  but  a  paltry  share  of  the  blue  blood  defiled  by  incessant 
infiltrations  of  the  muddy  fluid  of  the  outer  world.  This  may 
be  new  to  us  Britishers,  but  is  a  Q.  E.  D.  If  a  gentleman 
left  Europe  200  years  ago,  and  settled  with  his  kin  and  kith, 
intermarrying  his  children  with  their  equals,  and  thus  per 
petuating  an  ancient  family,  it  is  evident  he  may  be  regarded 
as  the  founder  of  a  much  more  honorable  dynasty  than  the 
relative  who  remained  behind  him,  and  lost  the  old  family 
place,  and  sunk  into  obscurity.  A  singular  illustration  of  the 
tendency  to  make  much  of  themselves  may  be  found  in  the 
fact,  that  New  England  swarms  with  genealogical  societies  and 
bodies  of  antiquaries,  who  delight  in  reading  papers  about 
each  other's  ancestors,  and  tracing  their  descent  from  Norman 
or  Saxon  barons  and  earls.  The  Virginians  opposite,  who 
are  flouting  us  with  their  Confederate  flag  from  Sewall's  Point, 
are  equally  given  to  the  "  genus  et  proavos." 

At  the  end  of  our  promenade  round  the  ramparts,  Lieuten 
ant  Butler,  the  General's  nephew  and  aide-de-carnp,  came  to 
tell  us  the  boat  was  ready,  and  we  met  His  Excellency  in  the 
court-yard,  whence  we  walked  down  to  the  wharf.  On  our 
way,  General  Butler  called  my  attention  to  an  enormous  heap 
of  hollow  iron  lying  on  the  sand,  which  was  the  Union  gun 
that  is  intended  to  throw  a  shot  of  some  350  Ibs.  weight  or 
more,  to  astonish  the  Confederates  at  Sewall's  Point  opposite, 
when  it  is  mounted.  This  gun,  if  I  mistake  not,  was  made 
after  the  designs  of  Captain  Rodman,  of  the  United  States 
artillery,  who  in  a  series  of  remarkable  papers,  the  publica 
tion  of  which  has  cost  the  country  a  large  sum  of  money,  has 
given  us  the  results  of  long-continued  investigations  and  ex 
periments  on  the  best  method  of  cooling  masses  of  iron  for 
ordnance  purposes,  and  of  making  powder  for  heavy  shot. 
The  piece  must  weigh  about  20  tons,  but  a  similar  gun,  mount 
ed  on  an  artificial  island  called  the  Rip  Raps,  in  the  channel 
opposite  the  fortress,  is  said  to  be  worked  with  facility.  The 
Confederates  have  raised  some  of  the  vessels  sunk  by  the 
United  States  officers  when  the  Navy  Yard  at  Gosport  was 
destroyed,  and  as  some  of  these  are  to  be  converted  into  rams, 
the  Federals  are  preparing  their  heaviest  ordnance,  to  try  the 
effect  of  crushing  weights  at  low  velocities  against  their  sides, 
should  they  attempt  to  play  any  pranks  among  the  transport 
vessels.  The  General  said :  "  It  is  not  by  these  great  masses 
18 


410  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

of  iron  this  contest  is  to  be  decided ;  we  must  bring  sharp 
points  of  steel,  directed  by  superior  intelligence."  Hitherto 
General  Butler's  attempts  at  Big  Bethel  have  not  been  crown 
ed  with  success  in  employing  such  means,  but  it  must  be  ad 
mitted  that,  according  to  his  own  statement,  his  lieutenants 
were  guilty  of  carelessness  and  neglect  of  ordinary  military 
precautions  in  the  conduct  of  the  expedition  he  ordered.  The 
march  of  different  columns  of  troops  by  night  concentrating 
on  a  given  point  is  always  liable  to  serious  interruptions,  and 
frequently  gives  rise  to  hostile  encounters  between  friends,  in 
more  disciplined  armies  than  the  raw  levies  of  United  States 
volunteers. 

When  the  General,  Commissioners,  and  Staff  had  embarked, 
the  steamer  moved  across  the  broad  estuary  to  Newport  News. 
Among  our  passengers  were  several  medical  officers  in  attend 
ance  on  the  Sanitary  Commissioners,  some  belonging  to  the  army, 
others  who  had  volunteered  from  civil  life.  Their  discussion 
of  professional  questions  and  of  relative  rank  assumed  such  a 
personal  character,  that  General  Butler  had  to  interfere  to 
quiet  the  disputants,  but  the  exertion  of  his  authority  was 
not  altogether  successful,  and  one  of  the  angry  gentlemen 
said  in  my  hearing,  "  I'm  d — d  if  I  submit  to  such  treatment  if 
all  the  lawyers  in  Massachusetts  with  stars  on  their  colors 
were  to  order  me  to-morrow." 

On  arriving  at  the  low  shore  of  Newport  News  we  landed 
at  a  wooded  jetty,  and  proceeded  to  visit  the  camp  of  the 
Federals,  which  was  surrounded  by  a  strong  entrenchment, 
mounted  with  guns  on  the  water  face  ;  and  on  the  angles 
inland,  a  broad  tract  of  cultivated  country,  bounded  by  a  belt 
of  trees,  extended  from  the  river  away  from  the  encampment; 
but  the  Confederates  are  so  close  at  hand  that  frequent 
skirmishes  have  occurred  between  the  foraging  parties  of  the 
garrison  and  the  enemy,  who  have  on  more  than  one  occasion 
pursued  the  Federals  to  the  very  verge  of  the  woods. 

Whilst  the  Sanitary  Commissioners  were  groaning  over 
the  heaps  of  filth  which  abound  in  all  camps  where  discipline 
is  not  most  strictly  observed,  I  walked  round  amongst  the 
tents,  which,  taken  altogether,  were  in  good  order.  The  day 
was  excessively  hot,  and  many  of  the  soldiers  were  lying 
down  in  the  shade  of  arbors  formed  of  branches  from  the 
neighboring  pine  wood,  but  most  of  them  got  up  when  they 
heard  the  General  was  coining  round.  A  sentry  walked  up 
and  down  at  the  end  of  the  street,  and  as  the  General  came 


COLONEL   PHELPS   AND   THE   CHIVALRY.  411 

up  to  him  he  called  out  "  Halt."  The  man  stood  still.  "  I 
just  want  to  show  you,  sir,  what  scoundrels  our  Government 
has  to  deal  with.  This  man  belongs  to  a  regiment  which  has 
had  new  clothing  recently  served  out  to  it.  Look  what  it  is 
made  of."  So  saying  the  General  stuck  his  fore-finger  into 
the  breast  of  the  man's  coat,  and  with  a  rapid  scratch  of  his 
nail  tore  open  the  cloth  as  if  it  was  of  blotting  paper. 
"  Shoddy  sir.  Nothing  but  shoddy.  I  wish  I  had  these  con 
tractors  in  the  trenches  here,  and  if  hard  work  would  not 
make  honest  men  of  them,  they'd  have  enough  of  it  to  be 
examples  for  the  rest  of  their  fellows." 

A  vivacious  prying  man,  this  Butler,  full  of  bustling  life, 
self-esteem,  revelling  in  the  exercise  of  power.  In  the  course 
of  our  rounds  we  were  joined  by  Colonel  Phelps,  who  was  for 
merly  in  the  United  States  army,  and  saw  service  in  Mexico, 
but  retired  because  he  did  not  approve  of  the  manner  in 
which  promotions  were  made,  and  who  only  took  command  of 
a  Massachusetts  regiment  because  he  believed  he  might  be  in 
strumental  in  striking  a  shrewd  blow  or  two  in  this  great  battle 
of  Armageddon — a  tall,  saturnine,  gloomy,  angry-eyed  sallow 
man,  soldier-like,  too,  and  one  who  places  old  John  Brown  on 
a  level  with  the  great  martyrs  of  the  Christian  world.  Indeed 
one,  not  so  fierce  as  he,  is  blasphemous  enough  to  place  images 
of  our  Saviour  and  the  hero  of  Harper's  Ferry  on  the  mantel 
piece,  as  the  two  greatest  beings  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
"  Yes,  I  know  them  well.  I've  seen  them  in  the  field.  I've 
sat  with  them  at  meals.  I've  travelled  through  their  country. 
These  Southern  slave-holders  are  a  false,  licentious,  godless 
people.  Either  we  who  obey  the  laws  and  fear  God,  or  they 
who  know  no  God  except  their  own  will  and  pleasure,  and 
know  no  law  except  their  passions,  must  rule  on  this  continent, 
and  I  believe  that  Heaven  will  help  its  own  in  the  conflict  they 
have  provoked.  I  grant  you  they  are  brave  enough,  and  des 
perate  too,  but  surely  justice,  truth,  and  religion,  will  strength 
en  a  man's  arm  to  strike  down  those  who  have  only  brute  force 
and  a  bad  cause  to  support  them."  But  Colonel  Phelps  was 
not  quite  indifferent  to  material  aid,  and  he  made  a  pressing 
appeal  to  General  Butler  to  send  him  some  more  guns  and 
harness  for  the  field-pieces  he  had  in  position,  because,  said 
he,  "in  case  of  attack,  please  God  I'll  follow  them  up  sharp, 
and  cover  these  fields  with  their  bones."  The  General  had  a 
difficulty  about  the  harness,  which  made  Colonel  Phelps  very 
grim,  but  General  Butler  had  reason  in  saying  he  could  not 


412  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

make  harness,  and  so  the  Colonel  must  be  content  with  the 
results  of  a  good  rattling  fire  of  round,  shell,  grape  and  can 
ister,  if  the  Confederates  are  foolish  enough  to  attack  his  bat 
teries. 

There  was  nothing  to  complain  of  in  the  camp,  except  the 
swarms  of  flies,  the  very  bad  smells,  and  perhaps  the  shabby 
clothing  of  the  men.  The  tents  were  good  enough.  The  ra 
tions  were  ample,  but  nevertheless,  there  was  a  want  of  order, 
discipline,  and  quiet  in  the  lines  which  did  not  augur  well  for 
the  internal  economy  of  the  regiments.  When  we  returned 
to  the  river  face,  General  Butler  ordered  some  practice  to  be 
made  with  a  Sawyer  rifle  gun,  which  appeared  to  be  an  or 
dinary  cast-iron  piece,  bored  with  grooves  on  the  shunt 
principle,  the  shot  being  covered  with  a  composition  of  a  metal 
lic  amalgam  like  zinc  and  tin,  and  provided  with  flanges  of  the 
same  material  to  fit  the  grooves.  The  practice  was  irregular 
and  unsatisfactory.  At  an  elevation  of  24  degrees,  the  first 
shot  struck  the  water  at  a  point  about  2000  yards  distant. 
The  piece  was  then  further  elevated,  and  the  shot  struck  quite 
out  of  land,  close  to  the  opposite  bank,  at  a  distance  of  nearly 
three  miles.  The  third  shot  rushed  with  a  peculiar  hurt 
ling  noise  out  of  the  piece,  and  flew  up  in  the  air,  falling 
with  a  splash  into  the  water  about  1500  yards  away.  The 
next  shot  may  have  gone  half  across  the  continent,  for  assur 
edly  it  never  struck  the  water,  and  most  probably  ploughed 
its  way  into  the  soft  ground  at  the  other  side  of  the  river. 
The  shell  practice  was  still  worse,  and  on  the  whole  I  wish 
our  enemies  may  always  fight  us  with  Sawyer  guns,  partic 
ularly  as  the  shells  cost  between  £6  and  £7  apiece. 

From  the  fort  the  General  proceeded  to  the  house  of  one  of 
the  oificers,  near  the  jetty,  formerly  the  residence  of  a  Virgin 
ian  farmer,  who  has  now  gone  to  Secessia,  where  we  were 
most  hospitably  treated  at  an  excellent  lunch,  served  by  the 
slaves  of  the  former  proprietor.  Although  we  boast  with 
some  reason  of  the  easy  level  of  our  mess-rooms,  the  Ameri 
cans  certainly  excel  us  in  the  art  of  annihilating  all  military 
distinctions  on  such  occasions  as  these  ;  and  I  am  not  sure  the 
General  would  not  have  liked  to  place  a  young  doctor  in  close 
arrest,  who  suddenly  made  a  dash  at  the  liver  wing  of  a  fowl 
on  which  the  General  was  bent  with  eye  and  fork,  and  carried 
it  off  to  his  plate.  But  on  the  whole  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
friendly  feeling  amongst  all  ranks  of  the  volunteers,  the  reg 
ulars  being  a  little  stiff  and  adherent  to  etiquette. 


A  RIDE  TO  HAMPTON.  4113 

In  the  afternoon  the  boat  returned  to  Fortress  Monroe,  and 
the  General  invited  me  to  dinner,  where  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  Mrs.  Butler,  his  staff,  and  a  couple  of  regimental  offi 
cers  from  the  neighboring  camp.  As  it  was  still  early,  Gen 
eral  Butler  proposed  a  ride  to  visit  the  interesting  village  of 
Hampton,  which  lies  some  six  or  seven  miles  outside  the  fort, 
and  forms  his  advance  post.  A  powerful  charger,  with  a  tre 
mendous  Mexican  saddle,  fine  housings,  blue  and  gold  em 
broidered  saddle-cloth,  was  brought  to  the  door  for  your  hum 
ble  servant,  and  the  General  mounted  another,  which  did 
equal  credit  to  his  taste  in  horseflesh  ;  but  I  own  I  felt  rather 
uneasy  on  seeing  that  he  wore  a  pair  of  large  brass  spurs, 
strapped  over  white  jean  brodequins.  He  took  with  him  his 
aide-de-camp  and  a  couple  of  orderlies.  In  the  precincts  of 
the  fort  outside,  a  population  of  contraband  negroes  has  been 
collected,  whom  the  General  employs  in  various  works  about 
the  place,  military  and  civil ;  but  I  failed  to  ascertain  that  the 
original  scheme  of  a  debit  and  credit  account  between  the 
value  of  their  labor  and  the  cost  of  their  maintenance  had 
been  successfully  carried  out.  The  General  was  proud  of 
them,  and  they  seemed  proud  of  themselves,  saluting  him 
with  a  ludicrous  mixture  of  awe  and  familiarity  as  he  rode 
past.  "  How  do,  Massa  Butler  ?  How  do,  General  ?  "  ac 
companied  by  absurd  bows  and  scrapes.  k'  Just  to  think," 
said  the  General,  "  that  every  one  of  these  fellows  represents 
some  one  thousand  dollars  at  least  out  of  the  pockets  of  the 
chivalry  yonder."  "  Nasty,  idle,  dirty  beasts,"  says  one  of  the 
staff,  sotto  voce  ;  "  I  wish  to  Heaven  they  were  all  at  the  bot 
tom  of  the  Chesapeake.  The  General  insists  on  it  that  they 
do  work,  but  they  are  far  more  trouble  than  they  are  worth." 

The  road  towards  Hampton  traverses  a  sandy  spit,  which, 
however,  is  more  fertile  than  would  be  supposed  from  the  soil 
under  the  horses'  hoofs,  though  it  is  not  in  the  least  degree  in 
teresting.  A  broad  creek  or  river  interposed  between  us  and 
the  town,  the  bridge  over  which  had  been  destroyed.  Work 
men  were  busy  repairing  it,  but  all  the  planks  had  not  yet 
been  laid  down  or  nailed,  and  in  some  places  the  open  space 
between  the  upright  rafters  allowed  us  to  see  the  dark  waters 
flowing  beneath.  The  Aide  said,  "  I  don't  think,  General,  it 
is  safe  to  cross ;  "  but  the  chief  did  not  mind  him  until  his 
horse  very  nearly  crashed  through  a  plank,  and  only  regained 
its  footing  with  unbroken  legs  by  marvellous  dexterity  ;  where 
upon  we  dismounted,  and,  leaving  the  horses  to  be  carried  over 


4H  MY  J  TART  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

in  the  ferry-boat,  completed  the  rest  of  the  transit,  not  with 
out  difficulty.  At  the  other  end  of  the  bridge  a  street  lined 
with  comfortable  houses,  and  bordered  with  trees,  led  us  into 
the  pleasant  town  or  village  of  Hampton  —  pleasant  once,  but 
now  deserted  by  all  the  inhabitants  except  some  pauperized 
whites  and  a  colony  of  negroes.  It  was  in  full  occupation  of 
the  Federal  soldiers,  and  I  observed  that  most  of  the  men 
were  Germans,  the  garrison  at  Newport  News  being  princi 
pally  composed  of  Americans.  The  old  red  brick  houses, 
with  cornices  of  white  stone  ;  the  narrow  windows  and  high 
gables  ;  gave  an  aspect  of  antiquity  and  P^uropean  comfort  to 
the  place,  the  like  of  which  I  have  not  yet  seen  in  the  States. 
Most  of  the  shops  were  closed  ;  in  some  the  shutters  were  still 
down,  and  the  goods  remained  displayed  in  the  windows.  "  I 
have  allowed  no  plundering,"  said  the  General;  "and  if  I  find 
a  fellow  trying  to  do  it,  I  will  hang  him  as  sure  as  my  name 
is  Butler.  See  here,"  and  as  he  spoke  he  walked  into  a  large 
woollen-draper's  shop,  where  bales  of  cloth  were  still  lying  on 
the  shelves,  and  many  articles  such  as  are  found  in  a  large 
general  store  in  a  country  town  were  disposed  on  the  floor  or 
counters ;  "  they  shall  not  accuse  the  men  under  my  command 
of  being  robbers."  The  boast,  however,  was  not  so  well  jus 
tified  in  a  visit  to  another  house  occupied  by  some  soldiers. 
"  Well,"  said  the  General,  with  a  smile,  "  I  dare  say  you  know 
enough  of  camps  to  have  found  out  that  chairs  and  tables  are 
irresistible  ;  the  men  will  take  them  off  to  their  tents,  though 
they  may  have  to  leave  them  next  morning." 

The  principal  object  of  our  visit  was  the  fortified  trench 
which  has  been  raised  outside  the  town  towards  the  Confed 
erate  lines.  The  path  lay  through  a  church-yard  filled  with 
most  interesting  monuments.  The  sacred  edifice  of  red  brick, 
with  a  square  clock-tower  rent  by  lightning,  is  rendered  inter 
esting  by  the  fact  that  it  is  almost  the  first  church  built  by  the 
English  colonists  of  Virginia.  On  the  tombstones  are  recorded 
the  names  of  many  subjects  of  His  Majesty  George  III.,  and 
familiar  names  of  persons  born  in  the  early  part  of  last  cen 
tury  in  English  villages,  who  passed  to  their  rest  before  the 
great  rebellion  of  the  Colonies  had  disturbed  their  notions  of 
loyalty  and  respect  to  the  crown.  Many  a  British  subject, 
too,  lies  there,  whose  latter  days  must  have  been  troubled  by 
the  strange  scenes  of  the  war  of  independence.  With  what 
doubt  and  distrust  must  that  one  at  whose  tomb  I  stand  have 
heard  that  George  Washington  was  making  head  against  the 


GENERAL  BUTLER.  415 

troops  of  His  Majesty  King  George  III. !  How  the  hearts 
of  the  old  men  who  had  passed  the  best  years  of  their  exist 
ence,  as  these  stones  tell  us,  fighting  for  His  Majesty  against 
the  French,  must  have  beaten  when  once  more  they  heard  the 
roar  of  Frenchman's  ordnance  uniting  with  the  voices  of  the 
rebellious  guns  of  the  colonists  from  the  plains  of  Yorktown 
against  the  entrenchments  in  which  Cornwallis  and  his  de 
serted  band  stood  at  hopeless  bay  !  But  could  these  old  eyes 
open  again,  and  see  General  Butler  standing  on  the  eastern 
rampart  which  bounds  their  resting-place,  and  pointing  to  the 
spot  whence  the  rebel  cavalry  of  Virginia  issue  night  and  day 
to  charge  the  loyal  pickets  of  His  Majesty  The  Union,  they 
might  take  some  comfort  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  vaticinations 
which  no  doubt  they  uttered,  "  It  cannot,  and  it  will  not,  come, 
to  good." 

Having  inspected  the  works  —  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  too 
extended,  and  badly  traced  —  which  I  say  with  all  deference 
to  the  able  young  engineer  who  accompanied  us  to  point  out 
the  various  objects  of  interest  —  the  General  returned  to  the 
bridge,  where  we  remounted,  and  made  a  tour  of  the  camps 
of  the  force  intended  to  defend  Hampton,  falling  back  on 
Fortress  Monroe  in  case  of  necessity.  Whilst  he  was  riding 
ventre  d  terre,  which  seems  to  be  his  favorite  pace,  his  horse 
stumbled  in  the  dusty  road,  and  in  his  effort  to  keep  his  seat 
the  General  broke  his  stirrup  leather,  and  the  ponderous  brass 
stirrup  fell  to  the  ground ;  but,  albeit  a  lawyer,  he  neither  lost 
his  seat  nor  his  sang  froid,  and  calling  out  to  his  orderly  "  to 
pick  up  his  toe  plate,"  the  jean  slippers  were  closely  pressed, 
spurs  and  all,  to  the  sides  of  his  steed,  and  away  we  went  once 
more  through  dust  and  heat  so  great  I  was  by  no  means  sorry 
when  he  pulled  up  outside  a  pretty  villa,  standing  in  a  garden, 
which  was  occupied  by  Colonel  Max  Weber,  of  the  German 
Turner  Regiment,  once  the  property  of  General  Tyler.  The 
camp  of  the  Turners,  who  are  members  of  various  gymnastic 
societies,  was  situated  close  at  hand ;  but  I  had  no  opportunity 
of  seeing  them  at  work,  as  the  Colonel  insisted  on  our  par 
taking  of  the  hospitalities  of  his  little  mess,  and  produced  some 
bottles  of  sparkling  hock  and  a  block  of  ice,  by  no  means  un 
welcome  after  our  fatiguing  ride.  His  Major,  whose  name  I 
have  unfortunately  forgotten,  and  who  spoke  English  better 
than  his  chief,  had  served  in  some  capacity  or  other  in  the 
Crimea,  and  made  many  inquiries  after  the  officers  of  the 
Guards  whom  he  had  known  there.  I  took  an  opportunity  of 


416  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

asking  him  in  what  state  the  troops  were.  "  The  whole  thing 
is  a  robbery,"  he  exclaimed  ;  "  this  war  is  for  the  contractors  ; 
the  men  do  not  get  a  third  of  what  the  Government  pay  for 
them  ;  as  for  discipline,  rny  God  !  it  exists  not.  We  Germans 
are  well  enough,  of  course ;  we  know  our  affair ;  but  as  for 
the  Americans,  what  would  you  ?  They  make  colonels  out  of 
doctors  and  lawyers,  and  captains  out  of  fellows  who  are  not 
fit  to  brush  a  soldier's  shoe."  "  But  the  men  get  their  pay  ?  " 
"  Yes  that  is  so.  At  the  end  of  two  months,  they  get  it,  and 
by  that  time  it  is  due  to  sutlers,  who  charge  them  100  per 
cent." 

It  is  easy  to  believe  these  old  soldiers  do  not  put  much  con 
fidence  in  General  Butler,  though  they  admit  his  energy. 
"  Look  you ;  one  good  officer  with  5,000  steady  troops,  such 
as  we  have  in  Europe,  shall  come  down  any  night  and  walk 
over  us  all  into  Fortress  Monroe  whenever  he  pleased,  if  he 
knew  how  these  troops  were  placed." 

On  leaving  the  German  Turners,  the  General  visited  the 
camp  of  Duryea's  New  York  Zouaves,  who  were  turned  out 
at  evening  parade,  or  more  properly  speaking,  drill.  But  for 
the  ridiculous  effect  of  their  costume  the  regiment  would  have 
looked  well  enough  ;  but  riding  down  on  the  rear  of  the  ranks 
the  discolored  napkins  tied  round  their  heads,  without  any  fez 
cap  beneath,  so  that  the  hair  sometimes  stuck  up  through  the 
folds,  the  ill-made  jackets,  the  loose  bags  of  red  calico  hanging 
from  their  loins,  the  long  gaiters  of  white  cotton  —  instead  of 
the  real  Zouave  yellow  and  black  greave,  and  smart  white 
gaiter  —  made  them  appear  such  military  scarecrows,  I  could 
scarcely  refrain  from  laughing  outright.  Nevertheless  the 
men  were  respectably  drilled,  marched  steadily  in  columns  of 
company,  wheeled  into  line,  and  went  past  at  quarter  distance 
at  the  double  much  better  than  could  be  expected  from  the 
short  time  they  had  been  in  the  field,  and  I  could  with  all 
sincerity  say  to  Colonel  Duryea,  a  smart  and  not  unpretentious 
gentleman,  who  asked  my  opinion  so  pointedly  that  I  could 
not  refuse  to  give  it,  that  I  considered  the  appearance  of  the 
regiment  very  creditable.  The  shades  of  evening  were  now 
falling,  and  as  I  had  been  up  before  5  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
I  was  not  sorry  when  General  Butler  said,  "  Now  we  will  go 
home  to  tea,  or  you  will  detain  the  steamer."  He  had  ar 
ranged  before  I  started  that  the  vessel,  which  in  ordinary  course 
would  have  returned  to  Baltimore  at  eight  o'clock,  should  re 
main  till  he  sent  down  word  to  the  Captain  to  go. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  SUFFOLK.  417 

We  scampered  back  to  the  fort,  and  judging  from  the  chal 
lenges  and  vigilance  of  the  sentries,  and  inlying  pickets,  I  am 
not  quite  so  satisfied  as  the  Major  that  the  enemy  could  have 
surprised  the  place.  At  the  tea-table  there  were  no  additions 
to  the  General's  family ;  he  therefore  spoke  without  any  re 
serve.  Going  over  the  map,  he  explained  his  views  in  refer 
ence  to  future  operations,  and  showed  cause,  with  more  mili 
tary  acumen  than  I  could  have  expected  from  a  gentleman  of 
the  long  robe,  why  he  believed  Fortress  Monroe  was  the  true 
base  of  operations  against  Richmond. 

I  have  been  convinced  for  some  time,  that  if  a  sufficient 
force  could  be  left  to  cover  Washington,  the  Federals  should 
move  against  Richmond  from  the  Peninsula,  where  they  could 
form  their  depots  at  leisure,  and  advance,  protected  by  their 
gunboats,  on  a  very  short  line  which  offers  far  greater  facilities 
and  advantages  than  the  inland  route  from  Alexandria  to  Rich 
mond,  which,  difficult  in  itself  from  the  nature  of  the  country, 
is  exposed  to  the  action  of  a  hostile  population,  and,  above  all, 
to  the  danger  of  constant  attacks  by  the  enemies'  cavalry, 
tending  more  or  less  to  destroy  all  communication  with  the 
base  of  the  Federal  operations. 

The  threat  of  seizing  Washington  led  to  a  concentration  of 
the  Union  troops  in  front  of  it,  which  caused  in  turn  the  col 
lection  of  the  Confederates  on  the  lines  below  to  defend  Rich 
mond.  It  is  plain  that  if  the  Federals  can  cover  Washington, 
and  at  the  same  time  assemble  a  force  at  Monroe  strong 
enough  to  march  on  Richmond,  as  they  desire,  the  Confeder 
ates  will  be  placed  in  an  exceedingly  hazardous  position, 
scarcely  possible  to  escape  from  ;  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
the  North,  with  their  overwhelming  preponderance,  should  not 
do  so,  unless  they  be  carried  away  by  the  fatal  spirit  of  brag 
and  bluster  which  comes  from  their  press  to  overrate  their 
own  strength  and  to  despise  their  enemy's.  The  occupation  of 
Suffolk  will  be  seen,  by  any  one  who  studies  the  map,  to  afford 
a  most  powerful  leverage  to  the  Federal  forces  from  Monroe 
in  their  attempts  to  turn  the  enemy  out  of  their  camps  of  com 
munication,  and  to  enable  them  to  menace  Richmond  as  well 
as  the  Southern  States  most  seriously. 

But  whilst  the  General  and  I  are  engaged  over  our  maps 
and  mint  juleps,  time  flies,  and  at  last  I  perceive  by  the  clock 
it  is  time  to  go.  An  aide  is  sent  to  stop  the  boat,  but  he  re 
turns  ere  I  leave  with  the  news  that  "  She  is  gone."  Where 
upon  the  General  sends  for  the  Quartermaster  Talmadge,  who 
18* 


418  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

is  out  in  the  camps,  and  only  arrives  in  time  to  receive  a  se 
vere  "  wigging."  It  so  happened  that  I  had  important  papers 
to  send  off  by  the  next  mail  from  New  York,  and  the  only 
chance  of  being  able  to  do  so  depended  on  my  being  in  Balti 
more  next  day.  General  Butler  acted  with  kindness  and 
promptitude  in  the  matter.  "  I  promised  you  should  go  by  the 
steamer,  but  the  captain  has  gone  off  without  orders  or  leave, 
for  which  he  shall  answer  when  I  see  him.  Meantime  it  is 
my  business  to  keep  my  promise.  Captain  Talmadge,  you 
will  at  once  go  down  and  give  orders  to  the  most  suitable  trans 
port  steamer  or  chartered  vessel  available,  to  get  up  steam  at 
once  and  come  up  to  the  wharf  for  Mr.  Russell." 

Whilst  I  was  sitting  in  the  parlor  which  served  as  the  Gen 
eral's  office,  there  came  in  a  pale,  bright-eyed,  slim  young  man 
in  a  subaltern's  uniform,  who  sought  a  private  audience,  and 
unfolded  a  plan  he  had  formed,  on  certain  data  gained  by  noc 
turnal  expeditions,  to  surprise  a  body  of  the  enemy's  cavalry 
which  was  in  the  habit  of  coming  down  every  night  and  dis 
turbing  the  pickets  at  Hampton.  His  manner  was  so  eager, 
his  information  so  precise,  that  the  General  could  not  refuse 
his  sanction,  but  he  gave  it  in  a  characteristic  manner.  "  Well, 
sir,  I  understand  your  proposition.  You  intend  to  go  out  as  a 
volunteer  to  effect  this  service.  You  ask  my  permission  to 
get  men  for  it.  I  cannot  grant  you  an  order  to  any  of  the 
officers  in  command  of  regiments  to  provide  you  with  these ; 
but  if  the  Colonel  of  your  regiment  wishes  to  give  leave  to  his 
men  to  volunteer,  and  they  like  to  go  with  you,  I  give  you 
leave  to  take  them.  I  wash  my  hands  of  all  responsibility  in 
the  affair."  The  officer  bowed  and  retired,  saying,  "  That  is 
quite  enough,  General."  * 

At  ten  o'clock  the  Quartermaster  came  back  to  say  that  a 
screw  steamer  called  The  Elizabeth  was  getting  up  steam  for 
my  reception,  and  I  bade  good-by  to  the  General,  and  walked 
down  with  his  aide  and  nephew,  Lieutenant  Butler,  to  the 
Hygeia  Hotel  to  get  my  light  knapsack.  It  was  a  lovely 
moonlight  night,  and  as  I  was  passing  down  an  avenue  of 
trees  an  officer  stopped  me,  and  exclaimed,  "  General  Butler, 
I  hear  you  have  given  leave  to  Lieutenant  Blank  to  take  a 

*  It  may  be  stated  here,  that  tin's  expedition  met  with  a  disastrous 
result.  If  I  mistake  not,  the  officer,  and  with  him  the  correspondent 
of  a  paper  who  accompanied  him,  were  killed  by  the  cavalry  whom 
he  meant  to  surprise,  and  several  of  the  volunteers  were  also  killed  or 
wounded. 


THE  SAD  SEA  WAVE.  419 

party  of  my  regiment  and  go  off  scouting  to-night  after  the 
enemy.  It  is  too  hard  that  —  "  What  more  he  was  going  to 
say  I  know  not,  for  I  corrected  the  mistake,  and  the  officer 
walked  hastily  on  towards  the  General's  quarters.  On  reach 
ing  the  Hygeia  Hotel  I  was  met  by  the  correspondent  of  a 
New  York  paper,  who  as  commissary-general,  or,  as  they  are 
styled  in  the  States,  officer  of  subsistence,  had  been  charged  to 
get  the  boat  ready,  and  who  explained  to  me  it  would  be  at 
least  an  hour  before  the  steam  was  up  ;  and  whilst  I  was  wait 
ing  in  the  porch  I  heard  many  Virginian,  and  old-world  stories 
as  well,  the  general  upshot  of  which  was  that  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  could  be  "done"  at  cards,  in  love,  in  drink,  in  horse 
flesh,  and  in  fighting,  by  the  true-born  American.  General 
Butler  came  down  after  a  time,  and  joined  our  little  society,  nor 
was  he  by  any  means  the  least  shrewd  and  humorous  racon 
teur  of  the  party.  At  eleven  o'clock  The  Elizabeth  uttered 
some  piercing  cries,  which  indicated  she  had  her  steam  up  ; 
and  so  I  walked  down  to  the  jetty,  accompanied  by  my  host 
and  his  friends,  and  wishing  them  good-by,  stepped  on  board 
the  little  vessel,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  negro  cook,  steward, 
butler,  boots,  and  servant,  roused  out  the  captain  from  a  small 
wooden  trench  which  he  claimed  as  his  berth,  turned  into  it, 
and  fell  asleep  just  as  the  first  difficult  convulsions  of  the  screw 
aroused  the  steamer  from  her  coma,  and  forced  her  languidly 
against  the  tide  in  the  direction  of  Baltimore. 

July  15th.  —  I  need  not  speak  much  of  the  events  of  last 
night,  which  were  not  unimportant,  perhaps  to  some  of  the  in 
sects  which  played  a  leading  part  in  them.  The  heat  was 
literally  overpowering  ;  for  in  addition  to  the  hot  night  there 
was  the  full  power  of  most  irritable  boilers  close  at  hand  to 
aggravate  the  natural  desagremens  of  the  situation.  About  an 
hour  after  dawn,  when  I  turned  out  on  deck,  there  was  nothing 
visible  but  a  warm  gray  mist ;  but  a  knotty  old  pilot  on  deck 
told  me  we  were  only  going  six  knots  an  hour  against  tide  and 
wind,  and  that  we  were  likely  to  make  less  way  as  the  day 
wore  on.  In  fact,  instead  of  being  near  Baltimore,  we  were 
much  nearer  Fortress  Monroe.  Need  I  repeat  the  horrors  of 
this  day  ?  Stewed,  boiled,  baked,  and  grilled  on  board  this 
miserable  Elizabeth,  I  wished  M.  Montalembert  could  have 
experienced  with  me  what  such  an  impassive  nature  could  in 
flict  in  misery  on  those  around  it.  The  captain  was  a  shy, 
silent  man,  much  given  to  short  naps  in  my  temporary  berth, 
and  the  mate  was  GO  wild,  he  might  have  swam  off  with  per- 


420  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

feet  propriety  to  the  woods  on  either  side  of  us,  and  taken  to  a 
tree  as  an  aborigine  or  chimpanzee.  Two  men  of  most  retiring 
habits,  the  negro,  a  black  boy,  and  a  very  fat  mjgress  who 
officiated  as  cook,  filled  up  the  "  balance"  of  the  crew. 

I  could  not  write,  for  the  vibration  of  the  deck  of  the  little 
craft  gave  a  St.  Vitus  dance  to  pen  and  pencil ;  reading  was 
out  of  the  question  from  the  heat  and  flies  ;  and  below  stairs 
the  fat  cook  banished  repose  by  vapors  from  her  dreadful 
caldrons,  where,  Medea-like,  she  was  boiling  some  death  broth. 
Our  breakfast  was  of  the  simplest  and  —  may  I  add  ?  —  the  least 
enticing ;  and  if  the  dinner  could  have  been  worse  it  was  so ; 
though  it  was  rendered  attractive  by  hunger,  and  by  the  kind 
ness  of  the  sailors  who  shared  it  with  me.  The  old  pilot  had  a 
most  wholesome  hatred  of  the  Britishers,  and  not  having  the 
least  idea  till  late  in  the  day  that  I  belonged  to  the  old  country, 
favored  me  with  some  very  remarkable  views  respecting  their 
general  mischievousness  and  inutility.  As  soon  as  he  found 
out  my  secret  he  became  more  reserved,  and  explained  to  me 
that  he  had  some  reason  for  not  liking  us,  because  all  he  had  in 
the  world,  as  pretty  a  schooner  as  ever  floated  and  a  fine  cargo, 
had  been  taken  and  burnt  by  the  English  when  they  sailed  up 
the  Potomac  at  Washington.  He  served  against  us  at  Bla- 
densburg.  I  did  not  ask  him  how  fast  he  ran ;  but  he  had  a 
good  rejoinder  ready  if  I  had  done  so,  inasmuch  as  he  was 
up  West  under  Commodore  Perry  on  the  lakes  when  we  suf 
fered  our  most  serious  reverses.  Six  knots  an  hour  !  hour 
after  hour  !  And  nothing  to  do  but  to  listen  to  the  pilot. 

On  both  sides  a  line  of  forest  just  visible  above  the  low 
shores.  Small  coasting  craft,  schooners,  pungies,  boats  laden 
with  wood  creeping  along  in  the  shallow  water,  or  plying 
down  empty  before  wind  and  tide. 

"  I  doubt  if  we'll  be  able  to  catch  up  them  forts  afore  night," 
said  the  skipper.  The  pilot  grunted,  "  I  rather  think  yu'll 

not."  "  H and  thunder  !  Then  we'll  have  to  lie  off  till 

daylight  ? "  "  They  may  let  you  pass,  Captain  Squires,  as 
you've  this  Europe-an  on  board,  but  anyhow  we  can't  fetch 
Baltimore  till  late  at  night  or  early  in  the  morning." 

I  heard  the  dialogue,  and  decided  very  quickly  that  as  An 
napolis  lay  somewhere  ahead  on  our  left,  and  was  much  nearer 
than  Baltimore,  it  would  be  best  to  run  for  it  while  there  was 
daylight.  The  captain  demurred.  He  had  been  ordered  to 
take  his  vessel  to  Baltimore,  and  General  Butler  might  come 
down  on  him  for  not  doing  so ;  but  I  proposed  to  sign  a  letter 


A  CHESAPEAKE  PILOT.  4L1 

stating  he  had  gone  to  Annapolis  at  my  request,  and  the 
steamer  was  put  a  point  or  two  to  westward,  much  to  the 
pleasure  of  the  Palinurus,  whose  "  old  woman  "  lived  in  the 
town.  I  had  an  affection  for  this  weather-beaten,  watery- 
eyed,  honest  old  fellow,  who  hated  us  as  cordially  as  Jack 
detested  his  Frenchman  in  the  old  days  before  ententes  cordi- 
ales  were  known  to  the  world.  lie  was  thoroughly  English 
in  his  belief  that  he  belonged  to  the  only  sailor  race  in  the 
world,  and  that  they  could  beat  all  mankind  in  seamanship  ; 
and  he  spoke  in  the  most  unaffected  way  of  the  Britishers  as  a 
survivor  of  the  old  war  might  do  of  Johnny  Crapaud  —  "  They 
were  brave  enough  no  doubt,  but,  Lord  bless  you,  see  them 
in  a  gale  of  wind  !  or  look  at  them  sending  down  top-gallant 
masts,  or  anything  sailor-like  in  a  breeze.  You'd  soon  see 
the  differ.  And,  besides,  they  never  can  stand  again  us  at 
close  quarters."  By  and  by  the  houses  of  a  considerable 
town,  crowned  by  steeples,  and  a  large  Corinthian-looking 
building,  came  in  view.  "  That's  the  State  House.  That's 
where  George  Washington  —  first  in  peace,  first  in  war,  and 
first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  —  laid  down  his  victori 
ous  sword  without  any  one  asking  him,  and  retired  amid  the 
applause  of  the  civilized  world."  This  flight  I  am  sure  was 
the  old  man's  treasured  relic  of  school-boy  days,  and  I'm  not 
sure  he  did  not  give  it  to  me  three  times  over.  Annapolis 
looks  very  well  from  the  river  side.  The  approach  is  guarded 
by  some  very  poor  earthworks  and  one  small  fort.  A  dis 
mantled  sloop  of  war  lay  off  a  sea  wall,  banking  up  a  green 
lawn  covered  with  trees,  in  front  of  an  old-fashioned  pile  of 
buildings,  which  formerly,  I  think,  and  very  recently  indeed, 
was  occupied  by  the  cadets  of  the  United  States  Naval  School. 
"  There  was  a  lot  of  them  Seceders.  Lord  bless  you  !  these 
young  ones  is  all  took  by  these  States  Rights'  doctrines  — 
just  as  the  ladies  is  caught  by  a  new  fashion." 

About  seven  o'clock  the  steamer  hove  along-side  a  wooden 
pier  which  was  quite  deserted.  Only  some  ten  or  twelve  sail 
ing  boats,  yachts,  and  schooners  lay  at  anchor  in  the  placid 
waters  of  the  port  which  was  once  the  capital  of  Maryland, 
and  for  which  the  early  Republicans  prophesied  a  great 
future.  But  Baltimore  has  eclipsed  Annapolis  into  utter  ob 
scurity.  I  walked  to  the  only  hotel  in  the  place,  and  found 
that  the  train  for  the  junction  with  Washington  had  started, 
and  that  the  next  train  left  at  some  impossible  hour  in  the 
morning.  It  is  an  odd  Rip  Van  Winkle  sort  of  a  place. 


422  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Quaint-looking  boarders  came  down  to  the  tea-table  and  talked 
vSecession,  and  when  I  was  detected,  as  must  ever  soon  be  the 
case,  owing  to  the  hotel-book,  I  was  treated  to  some  ill-favored 
glances,  as  my  recent  letters  have  been  denounced  in  the 
strongest  way  for  their  supposed  hostility  to  States  Rights  and 
the  Domestic  Institution.  The  spirit  of  the  people  has,  how 
ever,  been  broken  by  the  Federal  occupation,  and  by  the  de 
cision  with  which  Butler  acted  when  he  came  down  here  with 
the  troops  to  open  communications  with  Washington  after  the 
Baltimoreans  had  attacked  the  soldiery  on  their  way  through 
the  city  from  the  north. 


CHAPTER  XLVIIL 

The  "  State  House  "  at  Annapolis  —  Washington  —  General  Scott's 
quarters  —  Want  of  a  staff —  Rival  camps  —  Demand  for  horses 
—  Popular  excitement  —  Lord  Lyons — General  McDowell's 
movements  —  Retreat  from  Fairfax  Court- House  — General  Scott's 
quarters  —  General  Mansfield  —  Battle  of  Bull's  Run. 

July  IQth.  —  I  baffled  many  curious  and  civil  citizens  by 
breakfasting  in  my  room,  where  I  remained  writing  till  late 
in  the  day.  In  the  afternoon  I  walked  to  the  State  House. 
The  hall  door  was  open,  but  the  rooms  were  closed ;  and  I 
remained  in  the  hall,  which  is  graced  by  two  indifferent  huge 
statues  of  Law  and  Justice  holding  gas  lamps,  and  by  an  old 
rusty  cannon,  dug  out  of  the  river,  and  supposed  to  have  be 
longed  to  the  original  British  colonists,  whilst  an  officer  whom 
I  met  in  the  portico  went  to  look  for  the  porter  and  the  keys. 
Whether  he  succeeded  I  cannot  say,  for  after  waiting  some 
half  hour  I  was  warned  by  my  watch  that  it  was  time  to  get 
ready  for  the  train,  which  started  at  4.15  P.  M.  The  country 
through  which  the  single  line  of  rail  passes  is  very  hilly,  much 
wooded,  little  cultivated,  cut  up  by  water-courses  and  ravines. 
At  the  junction  with  the  "Washington  line  from  Baltimore 
there  is  a  strong  guard  thrown  out  from  the  camp  near  at 
hand.  The  officers,  who  had  a  mess  in  a  little  wayside  inn 
on  the  line,  invited  me  to  rest  till  the  train  came  up,  and  from 
them  I  heard  that  an  advance  had  been  actually  ordered,  and 
that  if  the  "  rebels  "  stood  there  would  soon  be  a  tall  fight 
close  to  "Washington.  They  were  very  cheery,  hospitable  fel 
lows,  and  enjoyed  their  new  mode  of  life  amazingly.  The 
men  of  the  regiment  to  which  they  belonged  were  Germans, 
almost  to  a  man.  When  the  train  came  in  I  found  it  was  full 
of  soldiers,  and  I  learned  that  three  more  heavy  trains  were 
to  follow,  in  addition  to  four  which  had  already  passed  laden 
with  troops. 

On  arriving  at  the  Washington  platform,  the  first  person  I 
saw  was  General  McDowell  alone,  looking  anxiously  into  the 


424  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

carriages.  He  asked  where  I  came  from,  and  when  he  heard 
from  Annapolis,  inquired  eagerly  if  I  had  seen  two  batteries 
of  artillery  —  Barry's  and  another  —  which  he  had  ordered 
up,  and  was  waiting  for,  but  which  had  "  gone  astray."  I  was 
surprised  to  find  the  General  engaged  on  such  duty,  and  took 
leave  to  say  so.  "  Well,  it  is  quite  true,  Mr.  Russell ;  but  I 
am  obliged  to  look  after  them  myself,  as  I  have  so  small  a 
staff,  and  they  are  all  engaged  out  with  my  head-quarters. 
You  are  aware  I  have  advanced  ?  No !  Well,  you  have  just 
come  in  time,  and  I  shall  be  happy,  indeed,  to  take  you  with 
me.  I  have  made  arrangements  for  the  correspondents  of 
our  papers  to  take  the  field  under  certain  regulations,  and  I 
have  suggested  to  them  they  should  wear  a  white  uniform,  to 
indicate  the  purity  of  their  character."  The  General  could 
hear  nothing  of  his  guns ;  his  carriage  was  waiting,  and  I  ac 
cepted  his  offer  of  a  seat  to  my  lodgings.  Although  he  spoke 
confidently,  he  did  not  seem  in  good  spirits.  There  was  the 
greatest  difficulty  in  finding  out  anything  about  the  enemy. 
Beauregard  was  said  to  have  advanced  to  Fairfax  Court  House, 
but  he  could  not  get  any  certain  knowledge  of  the  fact.  "  Can 
you  not  order  a  reconnoissance  ?  "  "  Wait  till  you  see  the 
country.  But  even  if  it  were  as  flat  as  Flanders,  I  have  not 
an  officer  on  whom  I  could  depend  for  the  work.  They  would 
fall  into  some  trap,  or  bring  on  a  general  engagement  when  I 
did  not  seek  it  or  desire  it.  I  have  no  cavalry  such  as  you  work 
with  in  Europe."  I  think  he  was  not  so  much  disposed  to 
undervalue  the  Confederates  as  before,  for  he  said  they  had 
selected  a  very  strong  position,  and  had  made  a  regular  levee 
en  masse  of  the  people  of  Virginia,  as  a  proof  of  the  energy 
and  determination  with  which  they  were  entering  on  the  cam 
paign. 

As  we  parted  the  General  gave  me  his  photograph,  and 
told  me  he  expected  to  see  me  in  a  few  days  at  his  quarters, 
but  that  I  would  have  plenty  of  time  to  get  horses  and  ser 
vants,  and  such  light  equipage  as  I  wanted,  as  there  would  be 
no  engagement  for  several  days.  On  arriving  at  my  lodgings 
I  sent  to  the  livery-stables  to  inquire  after  horses.  None  fit 
for  the  saddle  to  be  had  at  any  price.  The  sutlers,  the  cav 
alry,  the  mounted  officers,  had  been  purchasing  up  all  the 
droves  of  horses  which  came  to  the  markets.  McDowell  had 
barely  extra  mounts  for  his  own  use.  And  yet  horses  must  be 
had  ;  and,  even  provided  with  them,  I  must  take  the  field  with 
out  tent  or  servant,  canteen  or  food  —  a  waif  to  fortune. 


THE  ADVANCE.  425 

July  17th.  —  I  went  up  to  General  Scott's  quarters,  and 
saw  some  of  his  staff —  young  men,  some  of  whom  knew 
nothing  of  soldiers,  not  even  the  enforcing  of  drill  —  and  found 
them  reflecting,  doubtless,  the  shades  which  cross  the  mind 
of  the  old  chief,  who  was  now  seeking  repose.  McDowell  is 
to  advance  to-morrow  from  Fairfax  Court  House,  and  will 
march  some  eight  or  ten  miles  to  Centreville,  directly  in  front 
of  which,  at  a  place  called  Manassas,  stands  the  army  of  the 
Southern  enemy.  I  look  around  me  for  a  staff,  and  look  in 
vain.  There  are  a  few  plodding  old  pedants,  with  map  and 
rules  and  compasses,  who  sit  in  small  rooms  and  write  memo 
randa  ;  and  there  are  some  ignorant  and  not  very  active  young 
men,  who  loiter  about  the  head-quarters'  halls,  and  strut  up 
the  street  with  brass  spurs  on  their  heels  and  kepis  raked  over 
their  eyes  as  though  they  were  soldiers,  but  I  see  no  system, 
no  order,  no  knowledge,  no  dash ! 

The  worst-served  English  General  has  always  a  young  fel 
low  or  two  about  him  who  can  fly  across  country,  draw  a 
rough  sketch  map,  ride  like  a  fox-hunter,  and  find  something 
out  about  the  enemy  and  their  position,  understand  and  convey 
orders,  and  obey  them.  I  look  about  for  the  types  of  these  in 
vain.  McDowell  can  find  out  nothing  about  the  enemy  ;  he 
has  not  a  trustworthy  map  of  the  country  ;  no  knowledge  of 
their  position,  force,  or  numbers.  All  the  people,  he  says,  are 
against  the  Government.  Fairfax  Court  House  was  aban 
doned  as  he  approached,  the  enemy  in  their  retreat  being  fol 
lowed  by  the  inhabitants.  "  Where  were  the  Confederate  en 
trenchments  ?  "  "  Only  in  the  imagination  of  those  New  York 
newspapers  ;  when  they  want  to  fill  up  a  column  they  write  a 
full  account  of  the  enemy's  fortifications.  No  one  can  contra 
dict  them  at  the  time,  and  it's  a  good  joke  when  it's  found  out 
to  be  a  lie."  Colonel  Cullum  went  over  the  maps  with  me  at 
General  Scott's,  and  spoke  with  some  greater  confidence  of 
McDowell's  prospects  of  success.  There  is  a  considerable 
force  of  Confederates  at  a  place  called  Winchester,  which  is 
connected  with  Manassas  by  rail,  and  this  force  could  be 
thrown  on  the  right  of  the  Federals  as  they  advanced,  but 
that  another  corps,  under  Patterson,  is  in  observation,  with 
orders  to  engage  them  if  they  attempt  to  move  eastwards. 

The  batteries  for  which  General  McDowell  was  looking  last 
night  have  arrived,  and  were  sent  on  this  morning.  One  is 
under  Barry,  of  the  United  States  regular  artillery,  whom  I 
met  at  Fort  Pickens.  The  other  is  a  volunteer  battery.  The 


426  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

onward  movement  of  the  army  has  been  productive  of  a  great 
improvement  in  the  streets  of  Washington,  which  are  no  longer 
crowded  with  turbulent  and  disorderly  volunteers,  or  by 
soldiers  disgracing  the  name,  who  accost  you  in  the  by-ways 
for  money.  There  are  comparatively  few  to-day;  small  shoals, 
which  have  escaped  the  rneshes  of  the  net,  are  endeavoring  to 
make  the  most  of  their  time  before  they  cross  the  river  to  face 
the  enemy. 

Still  horse-hunting,  but  in  vain -— Gregson,  Wroe  —  et  hoc 
genus  omne.  Nothing  to  sell  except  at  unheard-of  rates ; 
tripeds,  and  the  like,  much  the  worse  for  wear,  and  yet  pos 
sessed  of  some  occult  virtues,  in  right  of  which  the  owners 
demanded  egregious  sums.  Everywhere  I  am  offered  a  gig  or 
a  vehicle  of  some  kind  or  another,  as  if  the  example  of  Gen 
eral  Scott  had  rendered  such  a  mode  of  campaigning  the  cor 
rect  thing.  I  saw  many  officers  driving  over  the  Long  Bridge 
with  large  stores  of  provisions,  either  unable  to  procure  horses 
or  satisfied  that  a  wagon  was  the  chariot  of  Mars.  It  is  not 
fair  to  ridicule  either  officers  or  men  of  this  army,  and  if  they 
were  not  so  inflated  by  a  pestilent  vanity,  no  one  would  dream 
of  doing  so  ;  but  the  excessive  bragging  and  boasting  in  which 
the  volunteers  and  the  press  indulge  really  provoke  criticism 
and  tax  patience  and  forbearance  overmuch.  Even  the  regu 
lar  officers,  who  have  some  idea  of  military  efficiency,  rather 
derived  from  education  and  foreign  travels  than  from  actual 
experience,  bristle  up  and  talk  proudly  of  the  patriotism  of  the 
army,  and  challenge  the  world  to  show  such  another,  although 
in  their  hearts,  and  more,  with  their  lips,  they  own  they  do  not 
depend  on  them.  The  white  heat  of  patriotism  has  cooled 
down  to  a  dull  black  ;  and  I  am  told  that  the  gallant  volunteers, 
who  are  to  conquer  the  world  when  they  "  have  got  through 
with  their  present  little  job,"  are  counting  up  the  days  to  the 
end  of  their  service,  and  openly  declare  they  will  not  stay  a 
day  longer.  This  is  pleasant,  inasmuch  as  the  end  of  the  term 
of  many  of  McDowell's,  and  most  of  Patterson's,  three  months' 
men,  is  near  at  hand.  They  have  been  faring  luxuriously  at 
the  expense  of  the  Government  —  they  have  had  nothing  to  do 
—  they  have  had  enormous  pay  —  they  knew  nothing,  and  were 
worthless  as  to  soldiering  when  they  were  enrolled.  Now, 
having  gained  all  these  advantages,  and  being  likely  to  be  of 
use  for  the  first  time,  they  very  quietly  declare  they  are  going 
to  sit  under  their  fig-trees,  crowned  with  civic  laurels  and 
myrtles,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  But  who  dare  say  they  are 


THE  FIRST   SKIRMISH.  427 

not  splendid  fellows  —  full-blooded  heroes,  patriots,  and  warriors 
—  men  before  whose  majestic  presence  all  Europe  pales  and 
faints  away  ? 

In  the  evening  I  received  a  message  to  say  that  the  ad 
vance  of  the  army  would  take  place  to-morrow  as  soon  as 
General  McDowell  had  satisfied  himself  by  a  reconnoissance 
that  he  could  carry  out  his  plan  of  turning  the  right  of  the 
enemy  by  passing  Occaguna  Creek.  Along  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  along  the  various  shops,  hotels,  and  drinking-bars, 
groups  of  people  were  collected,  listening  to  the  most  exag 
gerated  accounts  of  desperate  fighting  and  of  the  utter  de 
moralization  of  the  rebels.  I  was  rather  amused  by  hearing 
the  florid  accounts  which  were  given  in  the  hall  of  Willard's 
by  various  inebriated  officers,  who  were  drawing  upon  their 
imagination  for  their  facts,  knowing,  as  I  did,  that  the  en 
trenchments  at  Fairfax  had  been  abandoned  without  a  shot  on 
the  advance  of  the  Federal  troops.  The  New  York  papers 
came  in  with  glowing  descriptions  of  the  magnificent  march 
of  the  grand  army  of  the  Potomac,  which  was  stated  to  con 
sist  of  upwards  of  70,000  men ;  whereas  I  knew  not  half 
that  number  were  actually  on  the  field.  Multitudes  of  people 
believe  General  Winfield  Scott,  who  was  now  fast  asleep  in 
his  modest  bed  in  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  is  about  to  take  the 
field  in  person.  The  horse-dealers  are  still  utterly  impracti 
cable.  A  citizen  who  owned  a  dark  bay,  spavined  and  ring- 
boned,  asked  me  one  thousand  dollars  for  the  right  of  posses 
sion.  I  ventured  to  suggest  that  it  was  not  worth  the  money. 
"  Well,"  said  he,  "  take  it  or  leave  it.  If  you  want  to  see 
this  fight,  a  thousand  dollars  is  cheap.  I  guess  there  were 
chaps  paid  more  than  that  to  see  Jenny  Lind  on  her  first 
night ;  and  this  battle  is  not  going  to  be  repeated,  I  can  tell 
you.  The  price  of  horses  will  rise  when  the  chaps  out  there 
have  had  themselves  pretty  well  used  up  with  bowie-knives 
and  six-shooters." 

July  l&th.  —  After  breakfast.  Leaving  head-quarters,  I 
went  across  to  General  Mansfield's,  and  was  going  up-stairs, 
when  the  General*  himself,  a  white-headed,  gray-bearded, 
and  rather  soldierly-looking  man,  dashed  out  of  his  room  in 
some  excitement,  and  exclaimed,  "  Mr.  Russell,  I  fear  there 
is  bad  news  from  the  front."  "  Are  they  fighting,  General?" 
"  Yes,  sir.  That  fellow  Tyler  has  been  engaged,  and  we  are 
whipped."  Again  I  went  off  to  the  horse-dealer;  but  this 
*  Since  killed  in  action. 


428  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

time  the  price  of  the  steed  had  been  raised  to  £220 ;  "  for," 
says  lie,  "  I  don't  want  my  animals  to  be  ripped  up  by  them 
cannon  and  them  musketry,  and  those  who  wish  to  be  guilty 
of  such  cruelty  must  pay  for  it."  At  the  War-Office,  at  the 
Department  of  State,  at  the  Senate,  and  at  the  White  House, 
messengers  and  orderlies  running  in  and  out,  military  aides, 
and  civilians  with  anxious  faces,  betokened  the  activity  and 
perturbation  which  reigned  within.  I  met  Senator  Sumner 
radiant  with  joy.  "  We  have  obtained  a  great  success ;  the 
rebels  are  falling  back  in  all  directions.  General  Scott  says 
we  ought  to  be  in  Richmond  by  Saturday  night."  Soon  after 
wards  a  United  States  officer,  who  had  visited  me  in  company 
with  General  Meigs,  riding  rapidly  past,  called  out,  "  You 
have  heard  we  are  whipped ;  these  confounded  volunteers 
have  run  away."  I  drove  to  the  Capitol,  where  people  said 
one  could  actually  see  the  smoke  of  the  cannon ;  but,  on  ar 
riving  there,  it  was  evident  that  the  fire  from  some  burning 
houses,  and  from  wood  cut  down  for  cooking  purposes,  had 
been  mistaken  for  tokens  of  the  fight. 

It  was  strange  to  stand  outside  the  walls  of  the  Senate 
whilst  legislators  were  debating  inside  respecting  the  best 
means  of  punishing  the  rebels  and  traitors  ;  and  to  think 
that,  amidst  the  dim  horizon  of  woods  which  bounded  the 
wrest  towards  the  plains  of  Manassas,  the  army  of  the  United 
States  was  then  contending,  at  least  with  doubtful  fortune, 
against  the  forces  of  the  desperate  and  hopeless  outlaws 
whose  fate  these  United  States  senators  pretended  to  hold  in 
the  hollow  of  their  hands.  Nor  was  it  unworthy  of  note  that 
many  of  the  tradespeople  along  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  and 
the.  ladies  whom  one  saw  sauntering  in  the  streets,  were  ex 
changing  significant  nods  and  smiles,  and  rubbing  their  hands 
with  satisfaction.  I  entered  one  shop,  where  the  proprietor 
and  his  wife  ran  forward  to  meet  me.  "  Have  you  heard  the 
news  ?  Beauregard  has  knocked  them  into  a  cocked  hat." 
"  Believe  me,"  said  the  good  lady,  "  it  is  the  finger  of  the 
Almighty  is  in  it.  Didn't  he  curse  the  niggers,  and  why 
should  he  take  their  part  now  with  these  Yankee  Abolitionists, 
against  true  white  men  ?  "  "  But  how  do  you  know  this  ?  " 
said  I.  "  Why,  it's  all  true  enough,  depend  upon  it,  no  mat 
ter  how  we  know  it.  We've  got  our  underground  railway  as 
well  as  the  Abolitionists." 

On  my  way  to  dinner  at  the  Legation  I  met  the  President 
crossing  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  striding  like  a  crane  in  a  bul- 


THE  FEELING  OF  MINISTERS.  429 

rush  swamp  among  the  great  blocks  of  marble,  dressed  in  an 
oddly  cut  suit  of  gray,  with  a  felt  hat  on  the  back  of  his  head, 
wiping  his  face  with  a  red  pocket-handkerchief.  He  was  evi 
dently  in  a  hurry,  on  his  way  to  the  White  House,  where  I 
believe  a  telegraph  has  been  established  in  communication 
with  McDowell's  head-quarters.  I  may  mention,  by  the  by, 
in  illustration  of  the  extreme  ignorance  and  arrogance  which 
characterize  the  low  Yankee,  that  a  man  in  the  uniform  of  a 
colonel  said  to  me  to-day,  as  I  was  leaving  the  War  Depart 
ment,  "  They  have  just  got  a  telegraph  from  McDowell. 
Would  it  not  astonish  you  Britishers  to  hear  that,  as  our 
General  moves  on  towards  the  enemy,  he  trails  a  telegraph 
wire  behind  him,  just  to  let  them  know  in  Washington  which 
foot  he  is  putting  first  ?"  I  was  imprudent  enough  to  say,  "I 
assure  you  the  use  of  the  telegraph  is  not  such  a  novelty  in 
Europe  or  even  in  India.  When  Lord  Clyde  made  his  cam 
paign,  the  telegraph  was  laid  in  his  track  as  fast  as  he  ad 
vanced."  "  Oh,  well,  come  now,"  quoth  the  Colonel,  "  that's 
pretty  good,  that  is  ;  I  believe  you'll  say  next,  your  General 
Clyde  and  our  Benjamin  Franklin  discovered  lightning  si 
multaneously." 

The  calm  of  a  Legation  contrasts  wonderfully  in  troubled 
times  with  the  excitement  and  storm  of  the  world  outside. 
M.  Mercier  perhaps  is  moved  to  a  vivacious  interest  in  events. 
M.  Stoeckl  becomes  more  animated  as  the  time  approaches 
when  he  sees  the  fulfilment  of  his  prophecies  at  hand.  M. 
Tassara  cannot  be  indifferent  to  occurrences  which  bear  so  di 
rectly  on  the  future  of  Spain  in  Western  seas  ;  but  all  these 
diplomatists  can  discuss  the  most  engrossing  and  portentous 
incidents  of  political  and  military  lite,  with  a  sense  of  calm 
and  indifference  which  was  felt  by  the  gentleman  who  resented 
being  called  out  of  his  sleep  to  get  up  out  of  a  burning  house 
because  he  was  only  a  lodger. 

There  is  no  Minister  of  the  European  Powers  in  Wash 
ington  who  watches  with  so  much  interest  the  inarch  of  events 
as  Lord  Lyons,  or  who  feels  as  much  sympathy  perhaps  in 
the  Federal  Government  as  the  constituted  Executive  of  the 
country  to  which  he  is  accredited  ;  but  in  virtue  of  his  posi 
tion  he  knows  little  or  nothing  officially  of  what  passes  around 
him,  and  may  be  regarded  as  a  medium  for  the  communication 
of  despatches  to  Mr.  Seward,  and  for  the  discharge  of  a  great 
deal  of  most  causeless  and  unmeaning  vituperation  from  the 
conductors  of  the  New  York  press  against  England. 


430  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

On  my  return  to  Captain  Johnson's  lodgings  I  received  a 
note  from  the  head-quarters  of  the  Federals,  stating  that  the 
serious  action  between  the  two  armies  would  probably  be 
postponed  for  some  days.  McDowell's  original  idea  was  to 
avoid  forcing  the  enemy's  position  directly  in  front,  which  was 
defended  by  movable  batteries  commanding  the  fords  over  a 
stream  called  "  Bull's  Run."  He  therefore  proposed  to  make 
a  demonstration  on  some  point  near  the  centre  of  their  line, 
and  at  the  same  time  throw  the  mass  of  his  force  below  their 
extreme  right,  so  as  to  turn  it  and  get  possession  of  the  Ma- 
nassas  Railway  in  their  rear ;  a  movement  which  would  sepa 
rate  him,  by  the  by,  from  his  own  communications,  and  ena 
ble  any  General  worth  his  salt  to  make  a  magnificent  counter 
by  marching  on  Washington,  only  27  miles  away,  which  he 
could  take  with  the  greatest  ease,  and  leave  the  enemy  in  the 
rear  to  march  120  miles  to  Richmond,  if  they  dared,  or  to 
make  a  hasty  retreat  upon  the  higher  Potomac,  and  to  cross 
into  the  hostile  country  of  Maryland. 

McDowell,  however,  has  found  the  country  on  his  left 
densely  wooded  and  difficult.  It  is  as  new  to  him  as  it  was 
to  Braddock,  when  he  cut  his  weary  way  through  forest  and 
swamp  in  this  very  district  to  reach,  hundreds  of  miles  away, 
the  scene  of  his  fatal  repulse  at  Fort  Du  Quesne.  And  so, 
having  moved  his  whole  army,  McDowell  finds  himself  obliged 
to  form  a  new  plan  of  attack,  and,  prudently  fearful  of  pushing 
his  underdone  and  over-praised  levies  into  a  river  in  face  of 
an  enemy,  is  endeavoring  to  ascertain  with  what  chance  of 
success  he  can  attack  and  turn  their  left. 

Whilst  he  was  engaged  in  a  reconnoissance  to-day,  General 
Tyler  did  one  of  those  things  which  must  be  expected  from 
ambitious  officers,  without  any  fear  of  punishment,  in  countries 
where  military  discipline  is  scarcely  known.  Ordered  to  re 
connoitre  the  position  of  the  enemy  on  the  left  front,  when  the 
army  moved  from  Fairfax  to  Centreville  this  morning,  Gen 
eral  Tyler  thrust  forward  some  3000  or  4000  men  of  his  di 
vision  down  to  the  very  banks  of  "  Bull's  Run,"  which  was 
said  to  be  thickly  wooded,  and  there  brought  up  his  men  under 
a  heavy  fire  of  artillery  and  musketry,  from  which  they  re 
tired  in  confusion. 

The  papers  from  New  York  to-night  are  more  than  usually 
impudent  and  amusing.  The  retreat  of  the  Confederate  out 
posts  from  Fairfax  Court  House  is  represented  as  a  most  ex 
traordinary  success ;  at  best  it  was  an  affair  of  outposts ;  but 


EXAGGERATIONS.  431 

one  would  really  think  that  it  was  a  victory  of  no  small  mag 
nitude.  I  learn  that  the  Federal  troops  behaved  in  a  most 
ruffianly  and  lawless  manner  at  Fairfax  Court  House.  It  is 
but  a  bad  beginning  of  a  campaign  for  the  restoration  of  the 
Union,  to  rob,  burn,  and  destroy  the  property  and  houses  of 
the  people  in  the  State  of  Virginia.  The  enemy  are  described 
as  running  in  all  directions,  but  it  is  evident  they  did  not  in 
tend  to  defend  the  advanced  works,  which  were  merely  con 
structed  to  prevent  surprise  or  cavalry  inroads. 

I  went  to  Willard's,  where  the  news  of  the  battle,  as  it  was 
called,  was  eagerly  discussed.  One  little  man  in  front  of  the 
cigar-stand  declared  it  was  all  an  affair  of  cavalry.  "  But 
how  could  that  be  among  the  piney  woods  and  with  a  river  in 
front,  major  ?  "  "  Our  boys,  sir,  left  their  horses,  crossed  the 
water  at  a  run,  and  went  right  away  through  them  with  their 
swords  and  six-shooters."  "  I  tell  you  what  it  is,  Mr.  Russell," 
said  a  man  who  followed  me  out  of  the  crowd  and  placed  his 
hand  on  my  shoulder,  "they  were  whipped  like  curs,  and  they 
ran  like  curs,  and  I  know  it."  "  How  ?  "  "  Well,  I'd  rather 
be  excused  telling  you." 

July  19th.  —  I  rose  early  this  morning  in  order  to  prepare 
for  contingencies  and  to  see  off  Captain  Johnson,  who  was 
about  to  start  with  despatches  for  New  York,  containing,  no 
doubt,  the  intelligence  that  the  Federal  troops  had  advanced 
against  the  enemy.  Yesterday  was  so  hot  that  officers  and 
men  on  the  field  suffered  from  something  like  sun-stroke.  To 
unaccustomed  frames  to-day  the  heat  felt  unsupportable.  A 
troop  of  regular  cavalry,  riding  through  the  street  at  an  early 
hour,  were  so  exhausted,  horse  and  man,  that  a  runaway  cab 
could  have  bowled  them  over  like  ninepins. 

I  hastened  to  General  Scott's  quarters,  which  were  besieged 
by  civilians  outside  and  full  of  orderlies  and  officers  within. 
Mr.  Cobden  would  be  delighted  with  the  republican  simplicity 
of  the  Commander-in-Chief 's  establishment,  though  it  did  not 
strike  me  as  being  very  cheap  at  the  money  on  such  an  occa 
sion.  It  consists,  in  fact,  of  a  small  three-storied  brick  house, 
the  parlors  on  the  ground  floor  being  occupied  by  subordi 
nates,  the  small  front  room  on  the  first  floor  being  appropri 
ated  to  General  Scott  himself,  the  smaller  back-room  being 
devoted  to  his  staff,  and  two  rooms  up-stairs  most  probably 
being  in  possession  of  waste  papers  and  the  guardians  of  the 
mansion.  The  walls  are  covered  with  maps  of  the  coarsest 
description,  and  with  rough  plans  and  drawings,  which  afford 


432  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

information  and  amusement  to  the  orderlies  and  the  stray 
aide-de-camps.  "  Did  you  ever  hear  anything  so  disgraceful 
in  your  life  as  the  stories  which  are  going  about  of  the  affair 
yesterday  ?  "  said  Colonel  Cullum.  "  I  assure  you  it  was  the 
smallest  affair  possible,  although  the  story  goes  that  we  have 
lost  thousands  of  men.  Our  total  loss  is  under  ninety  — 
killed,  wounded,  and  missing ;  and  I  regret  to  say  nearly  one 
third  of  the  whole  are  under  the  latter  head."  "  However 
that  may  be,  Colonel,"  said  I,  it  will  be  difficult  to  believe 
your  statement  after  the  columns  of  type  which  appear  in  the 
papers  here."  "  Oh  !  Who  minds  what  they  say  ?  "  "  You 
will  admit,  at  any  rate,  that  the  retreat  of  these  undisciplined 
troops  from  an  encounter  with  the  enemy  will  have  a  bad  ef 
fect."  "  Well,  I  suppose  that's  likely  enough,  but  it  will  soon 
be  swept  away  in  the  excitement  of  a  general  advance.  Gen 
eral  Scott,  having  determined  to  attack  the  enemy,  will  not 
halt  now,  and  I  am  going  over  to  Brigadier  McDowell  to  ex 
amine  the  ground  and  see  what  is  best  to  be  done."  On 
leaving  the  room  two  officers  came  out  of  General  Scott's 
apartment ;  one  of  them  said,  "  Why,  Colonel,  he's  not  half 
the  man  I  thought  him.  Well,  any  way  he'll  be  better  there 
than  McDowell.  If  old  Scott  had  legs  he's  good  for  a  big 
thing  yet." 

For  hours  I  went  horse-hunting ;  but  Rothschild  himself, 
even  the  hunting  Baron,  could  not  have  got  a  steed.  In 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  the  people  were  standing  in  the  shade 
under  the  a3lanthus  trees,  speculating  on  the  news  brought  by 
dusty  orderlies,  or  on  the  ideas  of  passing  congressmen.  A 
party  of  captured  Confederates,  on  their  march  to  General 
Mansfield's  quarters,  created  intense  interest,  and  I  followed 
them  to  the  house,  and  went  up  to  see  the  General,  whilst  the 
prisoners  sat  down  on  the  pavement  and  steps  outside.  Not 
withstanding  his  affectation  of  calm,  and  self-possession,  Gen 
eral  Mansfield,  who  was  charged  with  the  defence  of  the  town, 
was  visibly  perturbed.  "  These  things,  sir,"  said  he,  "  happen 
in  Europe,  too.  If  the  capital  should  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  rebels,  the  United  States  will  be  no  more  destroyed  than 
they  were  when  you  burned  it."  From  an  expression  he  let 
fall,  I  inferred  he  did  not  very  well  know  what  to  do  with  his 
prisoners.  "  Rebels  taken  in  arms  in  Europe  are  generally 
hung  or  blown  away  from  guns,  I  believe  ;  but  we  are  more 
merciful."  General  Mansfield  evidently  wished  to  be  spared 
the  embarrassment  of  dealing  with  prisoners. 


STEVENS'S  RAM.  433 

I  dined  at  a  restaurant  kept  by  one  Boulanger,  a  French 
man,  who  utilized  the  swarms  of  flies  infesting  his  premises  by 
combining  masses  of  them  with  his  soup  and  rnnde  dishes. 
At  an  adjoining  table  were  a  lanky  boy  in  a  lieutenant's  uni 
form,  a  private  soldier,  and  a  man  in  plain  clothes ;  and  for  the 
edification  of  the  two  latter  the  warrior  youth  was  detailing 
the  most  remarkable  stories  in  the  Munchausen  style,  ear  ever 
heard.  "  Well,  sir,  I  tell  you,  when  his  head  fell  off  on  the 
ground,  his  eyes  shut  and  opened  twice,  and  his  tongue  came 
out  with  an  expression  as  if  he  wanted  to  say  something." 
"  There  were  seven  balls  through  my  coat,  and  it  was  all  so 
spiled  with  blood  and  powder,  I  took  it  off  and  threw  it  in  the 
road.  When  the  boys  were  burying  the  dead,  I  saw  this  coat 
on  a  chap  who  had  been  just  smothered  by  the  weight  of  the 
killed  and  wounded  on  the  top  of  him,  and  I  says, '  Boys,  give 
rne  that  coat ;  it  will  just  do  for  me  with  the  same  rank  ;  and 
there  is  no  use  in  putting  good  cloth  on  a  dead  body.' "  "And 
how  many  do  you  suppose  was  killed,  Lieutenant?"  "  Well, 
sir,  it's  my  honest  belief,  I  tell  you,  that  there  was  not  less 
than  5000  of  our  boys,  and  it  may  be  twice  as  many  of  the 
enemy,  or  more  ;  they  were  all  shot  down  just  like  pigeons  ; 
you  might  walk  for  five  rods  by  the  side  of  the  Run,  and  not 
be  able  to  put  your  foot  on  the  ground."  "The  dead  was  that 
thick  ?  "  "  No,  but  the  dead  and  the  wounded  together."  No 
incredulity  in  the  hearers  —  all  swallowed  :  possibly  disgorged 
into  the  note-book  of  a  Washington  contributor. 

After  dinner  I  walked  over  with  Lieutenant  H.  Wise,  in 
spected  a  model  of  Stevens's  ram,  which  appears  to  me  an 
utter  impossibility  in  face  of  the  iron-clad  embrasured  fleet 
now  coming  up  to  view,  though  it  is  spoke-n  of  highly  by 
some  naval  officers  and  by  many  politicians.  For  years  their 
papers  have  been  indulging  in  mysterious  volcanic  puffs  from 
the  great  centre  of  nothingness  as  to  this  secret  and  tremen 
dous  war-engine,  which  was  surrounded  by  walls  of  all  kinds, 
and  only  to  be  let  out  on  the  world  when  the  Great  Republic 
in  its  might  had  resolved  to  sweep  everything  off  the  seas. 
And  lo  !  it  is  an  abortive  ram  !  Los  Gringos  went  home,  and 
I  paid  a  visit  to  a  family  whose  daughters  —  bright-eyed, 
pretty,  and  clever  —  were  seated  out  on  the  door-steps  amid 
the  lightning  flashes,  one  of  them,  at  least,  dreaming  with 
open  eyes  of  a  young  artillery-officer  then  sleeping  among  his 
guns,  probably,  in  front  of  Fairfax  Court  House. 
19 


CHAPTER   XLIX. 

Skirmish  at  Bull's  Run  —  The  Crisis  in  Congress — Dearth  of  horses 
—  War  Prices  at  Washington  —  Estimate  of  the  effects  of  Bull's 
Run  —  Password  and  Countersign  —  Transatlantic  View  of  "  The 
Times  "  —  Difficulties  of  a  Newspaper  Correspondent  in  the  Field. 

July  20th.  —  The  great  battle  which  is  to  arrest  rebellion, 
or  to  make  it  a  power  in  the  land,  is  no  longer  distant  or 
doubtful.  McDowell  has  completed  his  reconnoissance  of  the 
country  in  front  of  the  enemy,  and  General  Scott  anticipates 
that  he  will  be  in  possession  of  Manassas  to-morrow  night. 
All  the  statements  of  officers  concur  in  describing  the  Con 
federates  as  strongly  intrenched  along  the  line  of  Bull  Run 
covering  the  railroad.  The  New  York  papers,  indeed,  au 
daciously  declare  that  the  enemy  have  fallen  back  in  disorder. 
In  the  main  thoroughfares  of  the  city  there  is  still  a  scattered 
army  of  idle  soldiers  moving  through  the  civil  crowd,  though 
how  they  come  here  no  one  knows.  The  officers  clustering 
round  the  hotels,  and  running  in  and  out  of  the  bar-rooms 
and  eating-houses,  are  still  more  numerous.  When  I  in 
quired  at  the  head-quarters  who  these  were,  the  answer  was 
that  the  majority  were  skulkers,  but  that  there  was  no  power 
at  such  a  moment  to  send  them  back  to  their  regiments  or 
punish  them.  In  fact,  deducting  the  reserves,  the  rear-guards, 
and  the  scanty  garrisons  at  the  earth-works,  McDowell  will 
not  have  25,000  men  to  undertake  his  seven  days'  march 
f'  through  a  hostile  country  to  the  Confederate  capital ;  and 
yet,  strange  to  say,  in  the  pride  and  passion  of  the  politicians, 
no  doubt  is  permitted  to  rise  for  a  moment  respecting  his  com 
plete  success. 

I  was  desirous  of  seeing  what  impression  was  produced 
upon  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  by  the  crisis  which 
was  approaching,  and  drove  down  to  the  Senate  at  noon. 
There  was  no  appearance  of  popular  enthusiasm,  excitement, 
or  emotion  among  the  people  in  the  passages.  They  drank 
their  iced  water,  ate  cakes  or  lozenges,  chewed  and  chatted, 
or  dashed  at  their  acquaintances  amongst  the  members,  as 


THE  EVE  OF  THE  BATTLE.  435 

though  nothing  more  important  than  a  railway  bill  or  a  postal 
concession  was  being  debated  inside.  I  entered  the  Senate, 
and  found  the  House  engaged  in  not  listening  to  Mr.  Latham, 
the  Senator  for  California,  who  was  delivering  an  elaborate 
lecture  on  the  aspect  of  political  affairs  from  a  Republican 
point  of  view.  The  senators  were,  as  usual,  engaged  in 
reading  newspapers,  writing  letters,  or  in  whispered  conver 
sation,  whilst  the  Senator  received  his  applause  from  the  peo 
ple  in  the  galleries,  who  were  scarcely  restrained  from  stamp 
ing  their  feet  at  the  most  highly-flown  passages.  Whilst  I 
was  listening  to  what  is  by  courtesy  called  the  debate,  a  mes 
senger  from  Centreville,  sent  in  a  letter  to  me,  stating  that 
General  McDowell  would  advance  early  in  the  morning,  and 
expected  to  engage  the  enemy  before  noon.  At  the  same 
moment  a  Senator  who  had  received  a  despatch  left  his  seat 
and  read  it  to  a  brother  legislator,  and  the  news  it  contained 
was  speedily  diffused  from  one  seat  to  another,  arid  groups 
formed  on  the  edge  of  the  floor  eagerly  discussing  the  wel 
come  intelligence. 

The  President's  hammer  again  and  again  called  them  to 
order ;  and  from  out  of  this  knot,  Senator  Sumner,  his  face 
lighted  with  pleasure,  came  to  tell  me  the  good  news.  "  Mc 
Dowell  has  carried  Bull  Run  without  firing  a  shot.  Seven 
regiments  attacked  it  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  and  the 
enemy  immediately  fled.  General  Scott  only  gives  McDow 
ell  till  mid-day  to-morrow  to  be  in  possession  of  Manassas." 
Soon  afterwards,  Mr.  Hay,  the  President's  Secretary,  appeared 
on  the  floor  to  communicate  a  message  to  the  Senate.  I  asked 
him  if  the  news  was  true.  "  All  I  can  tell  you,"  said  he,  "  is 
that  the  President  has  heard  nothing  at  all  about  it,  and  that 
General  Scott,  from  whom  we  have  just  received  a  communi 
cation,  is  equally  ignorant  of  the  reported  success." 

Some  senators  and  many  congressmen  have  already  gone 
to  join  McDowell's  army,  or  to  follow  in  its  wake,  in  the  hope 
of  seeing  the  Lord  deliver  the  Philistines  into  his  hands.  As 
I  was  leaving  the  Chamber  with  Mr.  Sumner,  a  dust-stained, 
toil-worn  man,  caught  the  Senator  by  the  arm,  and  said,  "  Sen 
ator,  I  am  one  of  your  constituents.  I  come  from town, 

in  Massachusetts,  and  here  are  letters  from  people  you  know, 
to  certify  who  I  am.  My  poor  brother  was  killed  yesterday, 
and  I  want  to  go  out  and  get  his  body  to  send  back  to  the 
old  people  ;  but  they  won't  let  me  pass  without  an  order." 
And  so  Mr.  Sumner  wrote  a  note  to  General  Scott,  and  an* 


436  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

other  to  General  Mansfield,  recommending  that  poor  Gordon 
Frazer  should  be  permitted  to  go  through  the  Federal  lines 
on  his  labor  of  love  ;  and  the  honest  Scotchman  seemed  as 
grateful  as  if  he  had  already  found  his  brother's  body. 

Every  carriage,  gig,  wagon,  and  hack  has  been  engaged  by 
people  going  out  to  see  the  fight.  The  price  is  enhanced  by 
mysterious  communications  respecting  the  horrible  slaughter 
in  the  skirmishes  at  Bull's  Run.  The  French  cooks  and  hotel- 
keepers,  by  some  occult  process  of  reasoning,  have  arrived  at 
the  conclusion  that  they  must  treble  the  prices  of  their  wines 
and  of  the  hampers  of  provisions  which  the  Washington  people 
are  ordering  to  comfort  themselves  at  their  bloody  Derby. 
"  There  was  not  less  than  18,000  men,  sir,  killed  and  destroy 
ed.  I  don't  care  what  General  Scott  says  to  the  contrary, 
he  was  not  there.  I  saw  a  reliable  gentleman,  ten  minutes 
ago,  as  cum  straight  from  the  place,  and  he  swore  there  was 
a  string  of  wagons  three  miles  long  with  the  \vounded. 
While  these  Yankees  lie  so,  I  should  not  be  surprised  to  hear 
they  said  they  did  not  lose  1000  men  in  that  big  fight  the  day 
before  yesterday." 

When  the  newspapers  came  in  from  New  York,  I  read 
flaming  accounts  of  the  ill-conducted  reconnoissance  against 
orders,  which  was  terminated  by  a  most  dastardly  and  igno 
minious  retreat,  "  due,"  say  the  New  York  papers,  "  to  the 
inefficiency  and  cowardice  of  some  of  the  officers."  Far  dif 
ferent  was  the  behavior  of  the  modest  chroniclers  of  these 
scenes,  who,  as  they  tell  us,  "  stood  their  ground  as  well  as 
any  of  them,  in  spite  of  the  shot,  shell,  and  rifle-balls  that 
whizzed  past  them  for  many  hours."  General  Tyler  alone, 
perhaps,  did  more,  for  "  he  was  exposed  to  the  enemy's  fire 
for  nearly  four  hours  ;  "  and  when  we  consider  that  this  fire 
came  from  masked  batteries,  and  that  the  wind  of  round  shot 
is  unusually  destructive  (in  America),  we  can  better  appreci 
ate  the  danger  to  which  he  was  so  gallantly  indifferent.  It  is 
obvious  that  in  this  first  encounter  the  Federal  troops  gained 
no  advantage  ;  and  as  they  were  the  assailants,  their  repulse, 
which  cannot  be  kept  secret  from  the  rest  of  the  army,  will 
have  a  very  damaging  effect  on  their  morale. 

General  Johnston,  who  has  been  for  some  days  with  a  con 
siderable  force  in  an  entrenched  position  at  Winchester,  in  the 
valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  had  occupied  General  Scott's  atten 
tion,  in  consequence  of  the  facility  which  he  possessed  to  move 
into  Maryland  by  Harper's  Ferry,  or  to  fall  on  the  Federals 


PREPARATIONS.  437 

by  the  Manassas  Gap  Railway,  which  was  available  by  a  long 
march  from  the  town  he  occupied.  General  Patterson,  with 
a  Federal  corps  of  equal  strength,  had  accordingly  been  de 
spatched  to  attack  him,  or,  at  all  events,  to  prevent  his  leaving 
Winchester  without  an  action  ;  but  the  news  to-night  is  that 
Patterson,  who  was  an  officer  of  some  reputation,  has  allowed 
Johnston  to  evacuate  Winchester,  and  has  not  pursued  him  ; 
so  that  it  is  impossible  to  predict  where  the  latter  will  appear. 

Having  failed  utterly  in  my  attempts  to  get  a  horse,  I  was 
obliged  to  negotiate  with  a  livery  stable-keeper,  who  had  a 
hooded  gig,  or  tilbury,  left  on  his  hands,  to  which  he  proposed 
to  add  a  splinter-bar  and  pole,  so  as  to  make  it  available  for 
two  horses,  on  condition  that  I  paid  him  the  assessed  value  of 
the  vehicle  and  horses,  in  case  they  were  destroyed  by  the 
enemy.  Of  what  particular  value  my  executors  might  have 
regarded  the  guarantee  in  question,  the  worthy  man  did  not 
inquire,  nor  did  he  stipulate  for  any  value  to  be  put  upon  the 
driver  ;  but  it  struck  me  that,  if  these  were  in  any  way  seri 
ously  damaged,  the  occupants  of  the  vehicle  were  not  likely 
to  escape.  The  driver,  indeed,  seemed  by  no  means  willing 
to  undertake  the  job ;  and  again  and  again  it  was  proposed  to 
me  that  I  should  drive,  but  I  persistently  refused. 

On  completing  my  bargain  with  the  stable-keeper,  in  which 
it  was  arranged  with  Mr.  Wroe  that  I  was  to  start  on  the 
following  morning  early,  and  return  at  night  before  twelve 
o'clock,  or  pay  a  double  day,  I  went  over  to  the  Legation,  and 
found  Lord  Lyons  in  the  garden.  I  went  to  request  that  he 
would  permit  Mr.  Warre,  one  of  the  attaches,  to  accompany 
me,  as  he  had  expressed  a  desire  to  that  effect.  His  Lord 
ship  hesitated  at  first,  thinking  perhaps  that  the  American 
papers  would  turn  the  circumstance  to  some  base  uses,  if  they 
were  made  aware  of  it ;  but  finally  he  consented,  on  the  dis 
tinct  assurance  that  I  was  to  be  back  the  following  night,  and 
would  not,  under  any  event,  proceed  onwards  with  General 
McDowell's  army  till  after  I  had  returned  to  Washington. 
On  talking  the  matter  over  with  Mr.  Warre,  I  resolved  that 
the  best  plan  would  be  to  start  that  night  if  possible,  and  pro 
ceed  over  the  Long  Bridge,  so  as  to  overtake  the  army  before 
it  advanced  in  the  early  morning. 

It  was  a  lovely  moonlight  night.  As  we  walked  through 
the  street  to  General  Scott's  quarters,  for  the  purpose  of  pro 
curing  a  pass,  there  was  scarcely  a  soul  abroad  ;  and  the 
silence  which  reigned  contrasted  strongly  with  the  tumult 


438  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

prevailing  in  the  daytime.  A  light  glimmered  in  the  Gen 
eral's  parlor ;  his  aides  were  seated  in  the  veranda  outside 
smoking  in  silence,  and  one  of  them  handed  us  the  passes 
which  he  had  promised  to  procure ;  but  when  I  told  them 
that  we  intended  to  cross  the  Long  Bridge  that  night,  an 
unforeseen  obstacle  arose.  The  guards  had  been  specially 
ordered  to  permit  no  person  to  cross  between  tattoo  and  day 
break  who  was  not  provided  with  the  countersign  ;  and  with 
out  the  express  order  of  the  General,  no  subordinate  officer 
can  communicate  that  countersign  to  a  stranger.  "  Can  you 
not  ask  the  General  ?  "  "  He  is  lying  down  asleep,  and  I  dare 
not  venture  to  disturb  him." 

As  I  had  all  along  intended  to  start  before  daybreak,  this 
contretemps  promised  to  be  very  embarrassing,  and  I  ventured 
to  suggest  that  General  Scott  would  authorize  the  countersign 
to  be  given  when  he  awoke.  But  the  aide-de-camp  shook  his 
head,  and  I  began  to  suspect  from  his  manner  and  from  that 
of  his  comrades  that  my  visit  to  the  army  was  not  regarded 
with  much  favor  —  a  view  which  was  confirmed  by  one  of 
them,  who,  by  the  way,  was  a  civilian,  for  in  a  few  minutes 
he  said,  "  In  fact,  I  would  not  advise  Warre  and  you  to  go 
out  there  at  all ;  they  are  a  lot  of  volunteers  and  recruits,  and 
we  can't  say  how  they  will  behave.  They  may  probably  have 
to  retreat.  If  I  were  you  I  would  not  be  near  them."  Of 
the  five  or  six  officers  who  sat  in  the  veranda,  not  one  spoke 
confidently  or  with  the  briskness  which  is  usual  when  there  is 
a  chance  of  a  brush  with  an  enemy. 

As  it  was  impossible  to  force  the  point,  we  had  to  retire, 
and  I  went  once  more  to  the  horse  dealer's  where  I  inspected 
the  vehicle  and  the  quadrupeds  destined  to  draw  it.  I  had 
spied  in  a  stall  a  likely-looking  Kentuckian  nag,  nearly 
black,  light,  but  strong,  and  full  of  fire,  with  an  undertaker's 
tail  and  something  of  a  mane  to  match,  which  the  groom 
assured  me  I  could  not  even  look  at,  as  it  was  bespoke  by  an 
officer ;  but  after  a  little  strategy  I  prevailed  on  the  proprietor 
to  hire  it  to  me  for  the  day,  as  well  as  a  boy,  who  was  to  ride 
it  after  the  gig  till  we  came  to  Centreville.  My  little  experi 
ence  in  such  scenes  decided  me  to  secure  a  saddle  horse.  I 
knew  it  would  be  impossible  to  see  anything  of  the  action  from 
a  gig ;  that  the  roads  would  be  blocked  up  by  commissariat 
wagons,  ammunition  reserves,  and  that  in  case  of  anything  seri 
ous  taking  place,  I  should  be  deprived  of  the  chance  of  par 
ticipating  after  the  manner  of  my  vocation  in  the  engagement, 


PREPARING  FOR  ACTION.  439 

and  of  witnessing  its  incidents.  As  it  was  not  incumbent  on 
my  companion  to  approach  so  closely  to  the  scene  of  action, 
he  could  proceed  in  the  vehicle  to  the  most  convenient  point, 
and  then  walk  as  far  as  he  liked,  and  return  when  he  pleased  ; 
but  from  the  injuries  I  had  sustained  in  the  Indian  campaign, 
I  could  not  walk  very  far.  It  was  finally  settled  that  the  gig, 
with  two  horses  and  the  saddle  horse  ridden  by  a  negro  boy, 
should  be  at  my  door  as  soon  after  daybreak  as  we  could  pass 
the  Long  Bridge. 

I  returned  to  my  lodgings,  laid  out  an  old  pair  of  Indian 
boots,  cords,  a  Himalayan  suit,  an  old  felt  hat,  a  flask,  re 
volver,  and  belt.  It  was  very  late  when  I  got  in,  and  I  relied 
on  my  German  landlady  to  procure  some  commissariat  stores ; 
but  she  declared  the  whole  extent  of  her  means  would  only 
furnish  some  slices  of  bread,  with  intercostal  layers  of  stale 
ham  and  mouldy  Bologna  sausage.  I  was  forced  to  be  con 
tent,  and  got  to  bed  after  midnight,  and  slept,  having  first  ar 
ranged  that  in  case  of  my  being  very  late  next  night  a  trust 
worthy  Englishman  should  be  sent  for,  who  wrould  carry  my 
letters  from  Washington  to  Boston  in  time  for  the  mail  which 
leaves  on  Wednesday.  My  mind  had  been  so  much  occupied 
with  the  coming  event  that  I  slept  uneasily,  and  once  or  twice 
I  started  up,  fancying  I  was  called.  The  moon  shone  in 
through  the  mosquito  curtains  of  my  bed,  and  just  ere  day 
break  I  was  aroused  by  some  noise  in  the  adjoining  room,  and 
looking  out,  in  a  half  dreamy  state,  imagined  I  saw  General 
McDowell  standing  at  the  table,  on  which  a  candle  was  burn 
ing  low,  so  distinctly  that  I  woke  up  with  the  words,  "  Gen 
eral,  is  that  you  ?  "  Nor  did  I  convince  myself  it  was  a  dream 
till  I  had  walked  into  the  room. 

July  21  st.  —  The  calmness  and  silence  of  the  streets  of 
Washington  this  lovely  morning  suggested  thoughts  of  the 
very  different  scenes  which,  in  all  probability,  were  taking 
place  at  a  few  miles'  distance.  One  could  fancy  the  hum  and 
stir  round  the  Federal  bivouacs,  as  the  troops  woke  up  and 
were  formed  into  column  of  march  towards  the  enemy.  I 
much  regretted  that  I  was  not  enabled  to  take  the  field  with 
General  McDowell's  army,  but  my  position  was  surrounded 
with  such  difficulties  that  I  could  not  pursue  the  course  open 
to  the  correspondents  of  the  American  newspapers.  On  my 
arrival  in  Washington  I  addressed  an  application  to  Mr.  Cam 
eron,  Secretary  at  War,  requesting  him  to  sanction  the  issue 
of  rations  and  forage  from  the  Commissariat  to  myself,  a  ser- 


440  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

vant,  and  a  couple  of  horses,  at  the  contract  prices,  or  on 
whatever  other  terms  he  might  think  fit,  and  I  had  several  in 
terviews  with  Mr.  Leslie,  the  obliging  and  indefatigable  chief 
clerk  of  the  War  Department,  in  reference  to  the  matter  ;  but 
as  there  was  a  want  of  precedents  for  such  a  course,  which 
was  not  all  to  be  wondered  at,  seeing  that  no  representative 
of  an  English  newspaper  had  ever  been  sent  to  chronicle  the 
progress  of  an  American  army  in  the  field,  no  satisfactory  re 
sult  could  be  arrived  at,  though  I  had  many  fair  words  and 
promises. 

A  great  outcry  had  arisen  in  the  North  against  the  course 
and  policy  of  England,  and  the  journal  I  represented  was  as 
sailed  on  all  sides  as  a  Secession  organ,  favorable  to  the  rebels 
and  exceedingly  hostile  to  the  Federal  government  and  the 
cause  of  the  Union.  Public  men  in  America  are  alive  to  the 
inconveniences  of  attacks  by  their  own  press;  and  as  it  was 
quite  impossible  to  grant  to  the  swarms  of  correspondents  from 
all  parts  of  the  Union  the  permission  to  draw  supplies  from  the 
public  stores,  it  would  have  afforded  a  handle  to  turn  the  screw 
upon  the  War  Department,  already  roundly  abused  in  the  most 
influential  papers,  if  Mr.  Cameron  acceded  to  me,  not  merely 
a  foreigner,  but  the  correspondent  of  a  foreign  journal  which 
was  considered  the  most  powerful  enemy  of  the  policy  of  his 
government,  privileges  which  he  denied  to  American  citizens, 
representing  newspapers  which  were  enthusiastically  support 
ing  the  cause  for  which  the  armies  of  the  North  were  now  in 
the  field. 

To  these  gentlemen  indeed,  I  must  here  remark,  such  priv 
ileges  were  of  little  consequence.  In  every  camp  they  had 
friends  who  were  willing  to  receive  them  in  their  quarters, 
and  who  earned  a  word  of  praise  in  the  local  papers  for  the 
gratification  of  either  their  vanity  or  their  laudable  ambition 
in  their  own  neighborhood,  by  the  ready  service  which  they 
afforded  to  the  correspondents.  They  rode  Government 
horses,  had  the  use  of  Government  wagons,  and  through  fear, 
favor,  or  affection,  enjoyed  facilities  to  which  I  had  no  access. 
I  could  not  expect  persons  with  whom  I  was  unacquainted  to 
be  equally  generous,  least  of  all  when  by  doing  so  they  would 
have  incurred  popular  obloquy  and  censure  ;  though  many 
officers  in  the  army  had  expressed  in  very  civil  terms  the 
pleasure  it  would  give  them  to  see  me  at  their  quarters  in  the 
field.  Some  days  ago  I  had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Cameron 
himself,  who  was  profuse  enough  in  promising  that  he  would 


DIFFICULTIES.  441 

do  all  in  his  power  to  further  my  wishes  ;  but  he  had,  never 
theless,  neglected  sending  me  the  authorization  for  which  I 
had  applied.  I  could  scarcely  stand  a  baggage  train  and  com 
missariat  upon  my  own  account,  nor  could  I  well  participate 
in  the  system  of  plunder  and  appropriation  which  has  marked 
the  course  of  the  Federal  army  so  far,  devastating  and  laying 
waste  all  the  country  behind  it. 

Hence,  all  I  could  do  was  to  make  a  journey  to  see  the 
army  on  the  field,  and  to  return  to  Washington  to  write  my 
report  of  its  first  operation,  knowing  there  would  be  plenty 
of  time  to  overtake  it  before  it  could  reach  Richmond,  when, 
as  I  hoped,  Mr.  Cameron  would  be  prepared  to  accede  to 
my  request,  or  some  plan  had  been  devised  by  myself  to 
obviate  the  difficulties  which  lay  in  my  path.  There  was  no 
entente  cordiale  exhibited  towards  me  by  the  members  of  the 
American  press ;  nor  did  they,  any  more  than  the  generals, 
evince  any  disposition  to  help  the  alien  correspondent  of  the 
"  Times,"  and  my  only  connection  with  one  of  their  body,  the 
young  designer,  had  not,  indeed,  inspired  me  with  any  great 
desire  to  extend  my  acquaintance.  General  McDowell,  on 
giving  me  the  most  hospitable  invitation  to  his  quarters,  re 
frained  from  offering  the  assistance  which,  perhaps,  it  was  not 
in  his  power  to  afford  ;  and  I  confess,  looking  at  the  matter 
calmly,  I  could  scarcely  expect  that  he  would,  particularly  as 
he  said,  half  in  jest,  half  seriously,  "  I  declare  I  am  not  quite 
easy  at  the  idea  of  having  your  eye  on  me,  for  you  have  seen 
so  much  of  European  armies,  you  will,  very  naturally,  think 
little  of  us,  generals  and  all." 


19* 


CHAPTER  L. 

To  the  scene  of  action  —  The  Confederate  camp  —  Centreville  —  Ac 
tion  at  Bull  Run  — Defeat  of  the  Federals  —  Disorderly  retreat  to 
Centreville  —  My  ride  back  to  Washington. 

PUNCTUAL  to  time,  our  carriage  appeared  at  the  door,  with 
a  spare  horse,  followed  by  the  black  quadruped  on  which  the 
negro  boy  sat  with  difficulty,  in  consequence  of  its  high  spirits 
and  excessively  hard  mouth.  I  swallowed  a  cup  of  tea  and 
a  morsel  of  bread,  put  the  remainder  of  the  tea  into  a  bottle, 
got  a  flask  of  light  Bordeaux,  a  bottle  of  water,  a  paper  of 
sandwiches,  and  having  replenished  my  small  flask  with 
brandy,  stowed  them  all  away  in  the  bottom  of  the  gig ;  but 
my  friend,  who  is  not  accustomed  to  rise  very  early  in  the 
morning,  did  not  make  his  appearance,  and  I  was  obliged  to 
send  several  times  to  the  Legation  to  quicken  his  movements. 
Each  time  I  was  assured  he  would  be  over  presently  ;  but  it 
was  not  till  two  hours  had  elapsed,  and  when  I  had  just  re 
solved  to  leave  him  behind,  that  he  appeared  in  person,  quite 
unprovided  with  viaticum,  so  that  my  slender  store  had  now 
to  meet  demands  of  two  instead  of  one.  We  are  off  at  last. 
The  amicus  and  self  find  contracted  space  behind  the  driver. 
The  negro  boy,  grinning  half  with  pain  and  "  the  balance  " 
with  pleasure,  as  the  Americans  say,  held  on  his  rampant 
charger,  which  made  continual  efforts  to  leap  into  the  gig,  and 
thus  through  the  deserted  city  we  proceeded  towards  the 
Long  Bridge,  where  a  sentry  examined  our  papers,  and  said 
with  a  grin,  "You'll  find  plenty  of  congressmen  on  before 
you."  And  then  our  driver  whipped  his  horses  through  the 
embankment  of  Fort  Runyon,  and  dashed  off  along  a  country 
road,  much  cut  up  with  gun  and  cart-wheels,  towards  the 
main  turnpike. 

The  promise  of  a  lovely  day,  given  by  the  early  dawn,  was 
likely  to  be  realized  to  the  fullest,  and  the  placid  beauty  of  the 
scenery  as  we  drove  through  the  woods  below  Arlington,  and 
beheld  the  white  buildings  shining  in  the  early  sunlight,  and 


OUT  IN  VIRGINIA.  443 

the  Potomac,  like  a  broad  silver  ribbon  dividing  the  picture 
breathed  of  peace.  The  silence  close  to  the  city  was  un 
broken.  From  the  time  we  passed  the  guard  beyond  the 
Long  Bridge,  for  several  miles,  we  did  not  meet  a  human 
being,  except  a  few  soldiers  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  de 
serted  camps,  and  when  we  passed  beyond  the  range  of 
tents  we  drove  for  nearly  two  hours  through  a  densely- 
wooded,  undulating  country ;  the  houses,  close  to  the  road 
side,  shut  up  and  deserted,  window-high  in  the  crops  of  Indian 
corn,  fast  ripening  for  the  sickle ;  alternate  field  and  forest, 
the  latter  generally  still  holding  possession  of  the  hollows, 
and,  except  when  the  road,  deep  and  filled  with  loose  stones, 
passed  over  the  summit  of  the  riclges,  the  eye  caught  on  either 
side  little  but  fir-trees  and  maize,  and  the  deserted  wooden 
houses,  standing  amidst  the  slave-quarters. 

The  residences  close  to  the  lines  gave  signs  and  tokens  that 
the  Federals  had  recently  visited  them.  But  at  the  best  of 
times  the  inhabitants  could  not  be  very  well  off.  Some  of  the 
farms  were  small,  the  houses  tumbling  to  decay,  with  un- 
painted  roofs  and  sidewalls,  and  windows  where  the  want 
of  glass  was  supplemented  by  panes  of  wood.  As  we  get 
farther  into  the  country  the  traces  of  the  debatable  land 
between  the  two  armies  vanished,  and  negroes  looked  out 
from  their  quarters,  or  sickly-looking  women  and  children 
were  summoned  forth  by  the  rattle  of  the  wheels  to  see  who 
was  hurrying  to  the  wTar.  Now  and  then  a  white  man  looked 
out,  with  an  ugly  scowl  on  his  face,  but  the  country  seemed 
drained  of  the  adult  male  population,  and  such  of  the  inhab 
itants  as  we  saw  were  neither  as  comfortably  dressed  nor  as 
healthy-looking  as  the  shambling  slaves  who  shufiied  about 
the  plantations.  The  road  was  so  cut  up  by  gun-wheels, 
ammunition  and  commissariat  wagons,  that  our  horses  made 
but  slow  way  against  the  continual  draft  upon  the  collar  ;  but 
at  last  the  driver,  who  had  known  the  country  in  happier 
times,  announced  that  we  had  entered  the  high-road  for  Fair 
fax  Court  House.  Unfortunately  my  watch  had  gone  down, 
but  I  guessed  it  was  then  a  little  before  nine  o'clock.  In  a 
few  minutes  afterwards  I  thought  I  heard,  through  the  eternal 
clatter  and  jingle  of  the  old  gig,  a  sound  which  made  me  call 
the  driver  to  stop.  He  pulled  up,  and  we  listened.  In  a 
minute  or  so,  the  well-kno\vn  boom  of  a  gun,  followed  by  two 
or  three  in  rapid  succession,  but  at  a  considerable  distance, 
reached  iny  ear.  "  Did  you  hear  that  ?  "  The  driver  heard 


444  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

nothing,  nor  did  my  companion,  but  the  black  boy  on  the  led- 
horse.  with  eyes  starting  out  of  his  head,  cried,  "  I  hear  them, 
massa ;  I  hear  them,  sure  enough,  like  de  gun  in  de  navy 
yard  ;  "  and  as  he  spoke  the  thudding  noise,  like  taps  with 
a  gentle  hand  upon  a  muffled  drum,  were  repeated,  which 
were  heard  both  by  Mr.  Warre  and  the  driver.  "  They  are 
at  it !  We  shall  be  late  !  Drive  on  as  fast  as  you  can  !  " 
We  rattled  on  still  faster,  and  presently  came  up  to  a  farm 
house,  where  a  man  and  woman,  with  some  negroes  beside 
them,  were  standing  out  by  the  hedgerow  above  us,  looking 
up  the  road  in  the  direction  of  a  cloud  of  dust,  which  we 
could  see  rising  above  the  tops  of  the  trees.  We  halted 
for  a  moment.  "  How  long  have  the  guns  been  going,  sir  ?  " 
"  Well,  ever  since  early  this  morning,"  said  he ;  "  they've 
been  having  a  fight.  And  I  do  really  believe  some  of  our 
poor  Union  chaps  have  had  enough  of  it  already.  For  here's 
some  of  them  darned  Secessionists  marching  down  to  go  into 
Alexandry."  The  driver  did  not  seem  altogether  content  with 
this  explanation  of  the  dust  in  front  of  us,  and  presently,  when 
a  turn  of  the  road  brought  to  view  a  body  of  armed  men, 
stretching  to  an  interminable  distance,  with  bayonets  glittering 
in  the  sunlight  through  the  clouds  of  dust,  seemed  inclined  to 
halt  or  turn  back  again.  A  nearer  approach  satisfied  me  they 
were  friends,  and  as  soon  as  we  came  up  with  the  head  of  the 
column  I  saw  that  they  could  not  be  engaged  in  the  perform 
ance  of  any  military  duty.  The  men  were  marching  without 
any  resemblance  of  order,  in  twos  and  threes  or  larger  troops. 
Some  without  arms,  carrying  great  bundles  on  their  backs ; 
others  with  their  coats  hung  from  their  firelocks ;  many  foot 
sore.  They  were  all  talking,  and  in  haste  ;  many  plodding 
along  laughing,  so  I  concluded  that  they  could  not  belong  to 
a  defeated  army,  and  imagined  McDowell  was  effecting  some 
flank  movement.  "  Where  are  you  going  to,  may  I  ask  ?  " 
"  If  this  is  the  road  to  Alexandria,  we  are  going  there." 
"  There  is  an  action  going  on  in  front,  is  there  not  ?  " 
"  Well,  so  we  believe,  but  we  have  not  been  fighting." 
Although  they  were  in  such  good  spirits,  they  were  not 
communicative,  and  we  resumed  our  journey,  impeded  by  the 
straggling  troops  and  by  the  country  cars  containing  their 
baggage  and  chairs,  and  tables  and  domestic  furniture,  which 
had  never  belonged  to  a  regiment  in  the  field.  Still  they 
came  pouring  on.  I  ordered  the  driver  to  stop  at  a  rivulet, 
where  a  number  of  men  were  seated  in  the  shade,  drinking 


FAIRFAX   COURT   HOUSE.  445 

the  water  and  bathing  their  hands  and  feet.  On  getting  out 
I  asked  an  officer,  "  May  I  beg  to  know,  sir,  where  jour  regi 
ment  is  going  to  ?  "  "  Well,  I  reckon,  sir,  we  are  going  home 
to  Pennsylvania."  "  This  is  the  4th  Pennsylvania  Regiment, 
is  it  not,  sir  ?  "  "  It  is  so,  sir ;  that's  the  fact."  "  I  should 
think  there  is  severe  fighting  going  on  behind  you.  judging 
from  the  firing?5'  (for  every  moment  the  sound  of  the  cannon 
had  been  growing  more  distinct  and  more  heavy).  "  Wei!, 
I  reckon,  sir,  there  is."  I  paused  for  a  moment,  not  knowing 
what  to  say,  and  yet  anxious  for  an  explanation  ;  and  the 
epauletted  gentleman,  after  a  few  seconds'  awkward  hesitation, 
added,  "  We  are  going  home  because,  as  you  see,  the  men's 
time's  up,  sir.  We  have  had  three  months  of  this  sort  of  work, 
and  that's  quite  enough  of  it."  The  men  who  were  listening 
to  the  conversation  expressed  their  assent  to  the  noble  and 
patriotic  utterances  of  the  centurion,  and,  making  him  a  low 
bow,  we  resumed  our  journey. 

It  was  fully  three  and  a  half  miles  before  the  last  of  the 
regiment  passed,  and  then  the  road  presented  a  more  animated 
scene,  for  white-covered  commissariat  wagons  were  visible, 
wending  towards  the  front,  and  one  or  two  hack  carriages, 
laden  with  civilians,  were  hastening  in  the  same  direction. 
Before  the  doors  of  the  wooden  farm-houses  the  colored  people 
were  assembled,  listening  with  outstretched  necks  to  the  re 
peated  reports  of  the  guns.  At  one  time,  as  we  were  descend 
ing  the  wooded  road,  a  huge  blue  dome,  agitated  by  some  in 
ternal  convulsion,  appeared  to  bar  our  progress,  and  it  was 
only  after  infinite  persuasion  of  rein  and  whip  that  the  horses 
approached  the  terrific  object,  which  was  an  inflated  balloon, 
attached  to  a  wagon,  and  defying  the  efforts  of  the  men  in 
charge  to  jockey  it  safely  through  the  trees. 

It  must  have  been  about  eleven  o'clock  when  we  came  to 
the  first  traces  of  the  Confederate  camp,  in  front  of  Fairfax 
Court  House,  where  they  had  cut  a  few  trenches  and  levelled 
the  trees  across  the  road,  so  as  to  form  a  rude  abattis  ;  but  the 
works  were  of  a  most  superficial  character,  and  would  scarcely 
have  given  cover  either  to  the  guns,  for  which  embrasures  were 
left  at  the  flanks  to  sweep  the  road,  or  to  the  infantry  intended 
to  defend  them. 

The  Confederate  force  stationed  here  must  have  consisted, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  of  cavalry.  The  bowers  of  branches, 
which  they  had  made  to  shelter  their  tents,  camp-tables,  empty 
boxes,  and  packing-cases,  in  the  debris  one  usually  sees  around 


446  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

an  encampment,  showed  they  had  not  been  destitute  of  creature 
comforts. 

Some  time  before  noon  the  driver,  urged  continually  by  ad 
jurations  to  get  on,  whipped  his  horses  into  Fairfax  Court 
House,  a  village  which  derives  its  name  from  a  large  brick 
building,  in  which  the  sessions  of  the  county  are  held.  Some 
thirty  or  forty  houses,  for  the  most  part  detached,  with  gar 
dens  or  small  strips  of  land  about  them,  form  the  main  street. 
The  inhabitants  who  remained  had  by  no  means  an  agreeable 
expression  of  countenance,  and  did  not  seem  on  very  good 
terms  with  the  Federal  soldiers,  who  were  lounging  up  and 
down  the  streets,  or  standing  in  the  shade  of  the  trees  and 
doorways.  I  asked  the  sergeant  of  a  picket  in  the  street  how 
long  the  firing  had  been  going  on.  He  replied  that  it  had  com 
menced  at  half-past  seven  or  eight,  and  had  been  increasing 
ever  since.  "  Some  of  them  will  lose  their  eyes  and  back 
teeth,"  he  added,  "  before  it  is  over."  The  driver,  pulling  up 
at  a  roadside  inn  in  the  town,  here  made  the  startling  announce 
ment,  that  both  he  and  his  horses  must  have  something  to  eat, 
and  although  we  would  have  been  happy  to  join  him,  seeing 
that  we  had  no  breakfast,  we  could  not  afford  the  time,  and 
were  not  displeased  when  a  thin-faced,  shrewish  woman,  in 
black,  came  out  into  the  veranda,  and  said  she  could  not  let  us 
have  anything  unless  we  liked  to  wait  till  the  regular  dinner 
hour  of  the  house,  which  was  at  one  o'clock.  The  horses  got 
a  bucket  of  water,  which  they  needed  in  that  broiling  sun ; 
and  the  cannonade,  which  by  this  time  had  increased  into  a  re 
spectable  tumult  that  gave  evidence  of  a  well-sustained  action, 
added  vigor  to  the  driver's  arm,  and  in  a  mile  or  two  more  we 
dashed  in  to  a  village  of  burnt  houses,  the  charred  brick  chim 
ney  stacks  standing  amidst  the  blackened  embers  being  all  that 
remained  of  what  once  was  Germantown.  The  firing  of 
this  village  was  severely  censured  by  General  McDowell,  who 
probably  does  not  appreciate  the  value  of  such  agencies  em 
ployed  u  by  our  glorious  Union  army  to  develop  loyal  senti 
ments  among  the  people  of  Virginia." 

The  driver,  passing  through  the  town,  drove  straight  on, 
but  after  some  time  I  fancied  the  sound  of  the  guns  seemed 
dying  away  towards  our  left.  A  big  negro  came  shambling 
along  the  roadside  —  the  driver  stopped  and  asked  him,  "  is 
this  the  road  to  Centreville  ?  "  "  Yes,  sir ;  right  on,  sir  ;  good 
road  to  Centreville,  massa,"  and  so  we  proceeded,  till  I  be 
came  satisfied  from  the  appearance  of  the  road  that  we  had 


A  MISTAKE  ON   THE  ROAD.  447 

altogether  left  the  track  of  the  army.  At  the  first  cottage  we 
halted,  and  inquired  of  a  Virginian,  who  came  out  to  look  at 
us,  whether  the  road  led  to  Centreville.  "  You're  going  to 
Centreville,  are  you  ?"  "  Yes,  by  the  shortest  road  we  can." 
"Well,  then  —  you're  going  wrong  —  right  away  !  Some  people 
say  there's  a  bend  of  road  leading  through  the  wood  a  mile 
farther  on,  but  those  who  have  tried  it  lately  have  come  back 
to  Germantown  and  don't  think  it  leads  to  Centreville  at 
all."  This  was  very  provoking,  as  the  horses  were  much  fa 
tigued  and  we  had  driven  several  miles  out  of  our  way.  The 
driver,  who  was  an  Englishman,  said,  "  I  think  it  would  be 
best  for  us  to  go  on  and  try  the  road  anyhow.  There's  not 
likely  to  be  any  Seceshers  about  there,  are  there,  sir  ?  " 

"  What  did  you  say,  sir,"  inquired  the  Virginian,  with  a  va 
cant  stare  upon  his  face. 

"  I  merely  asked  whether  you  think  we  are  likely  to  meet 
with  any  Secessionists  if  we  go  along  that  road  ?  " 

"  Secessionists  1"  repeated  the  Virginian,  slowly  pronouncing 
each  syllable  as  if  pondering  on  the  meaning  of  the  word  — 
"  Secessionists  !  Oh  no,  sir ;  1  don't  believe  there's  such  a 
thing  as  a  Secessionist  in  the  whole  of  this  country/' 

The  boldness  of  this  assertion,  in  the  very  hearing  of  Beau- 
regard's  cannon,  completely  shook  the  faith  of  our  Jehu  in  any 
information  from  that  source,  and  we  retraced  our  steps  to 
Germantown,  and  were  directed  into  the  proper  road  by 
some  negroes,  who  were  engaged  exchanging  Confederate 
money  at  very  low  rates  for  Federal  copper  with  a  few  strag 
gling  soldiers.  The  faithful  Muley  Moloch,  who  had  been 
capering  in  our  rear  so  long,  now  complained  that  he  was  very 
much  burned,  but  on  further  inquiry  it  was  ascertained  he 
was  merely  suffering  from  the  abrading  of  his  skin  against 
an  English  saddle. 

•J  In  an  hour  more  we  had  gained  the  high  road  to  Centre 
ville,  on  which  were  many  buggies,  commissariat  carts,  and 
wagons  full  of  civilians,  and  a  brisk  canter  brought  us  in 
sight  of  a  rising  ground,  over  which  the  road  led  directly 
through  a  few  houses  on  each  side,  and  dipped  out  of  sight, 
the  slopes  of  the  hill  being  covered  with  men,  carts,  and  horses, 
and  the  summit  crested  with  spectators,  with  their  back  turned 
towards  us,  and  gazing  on  the  valley  beyond.  "  There's  Cen 
treville,"  says  the  driver,  and  on  our  poor  panting  horses  were 
forced,  passing  directly  through  the  Confederate  bivouacs, 
commissariat  parks,  folds  of  oxen,  and  two  German  regiments, 


448  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

with  a  battery  of  artillery,  halting  on  the  rising-ground  by  the 
road-side.  The  heat  was  intense.  Our  driver  complained 
of  hunger  and  thirst,  to  which  neither  I  nor  my  companion 
were  insensible;  and  so  pulling  up  on  the  top  of  the  hill,  I  sent 
the  boy  down  to  the  village  which  we  had  passed,  to  see  if  he 
could  find  shelter  for  the  horses,  and  a  morsel  for  our  break- 
fa.stless  selves. 

It  was  a  strange  scene  before  us.  From  the  hill  a  densely 
wooded  country,  dotted  at  intervals  with  green  fields  and 
cleared  lands,  spread  five  or  six  miles  in  front,  bounded  by  a  lin* 
of  blue  and  purple  ridges,  terminating  abruptly  in  escarpments 
towards  the  left  front,  and  swelling  gradually  towards  the  right 
into  the  lower  spines  of  an  offshoot  from  the  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains.  On  our  left  the  view  was  circumscribed  by  a 
forest  which  clothed  the  side  of  the  ridge  on  which  we  stood, 
and  covered  its  shoulder  far  down  into  the  plain.  A  gap  in 
the  nearest  chain  of  the  hills  in  our  front  was  pointed  out  by 
the  by-standers  as  the  Pass  of  Manassas,  by  which  the  railway 
from  the  West  is  carried  into  the  plain,  and  still  nearer  at 
hand,  before  us,  is  the  junction  of  that  rail  with  the  line  from 
Alexandria,  and  with  the  railway  leading  southwards  to  Rich 
mond.  The  intervening  space  was  not  a  deal  level ;  undulat 
ing  lines  of  forest  marked  the  course  of  the  streams  which  in 
tersected  it,  and  gave,  by  their  variety  of  color  and  shading 
an  additional  charm  to  the  landscape  which,  enclosed  in  a 
framework  of  blue  and  purple  hills,  softened  into  violet  in  the 
extreme  distance,  presented  one  of  the  most  agreeable  displays 
of  simple  pastoral  woodland  scenery  that  could  be  conceived. 

But  the  sounds  which  came  upon  the  breeze,  and  the  sights 
which  met  our  eyes,  were  in  terrible  variance  with  the  tran 
quil  character  of  the  landscape.  The  woods  far  and  near 
echoed  to  the  roar  of  cannon,  and  thin  frayed  lines  of  blue 
smoke  marked  the  spots  whence  came  the  muttering  sound  of 
rolling  musketry ;  the  white  puffs  of  smoke  burst  high  above 
the  tree-tops,  and  the  gunners'  rings  from  shell  and  howitzer 
marked  the  fire  of  the  artillery. 

Clouds  of  dust  shifted  and  moved  through  the  forest ;  and 
through  the  wravering  mists  of  light-blue  smoke,  and  the  thicker 
masses  which  rose  commingling  from  the  feet  of  men  and  the 
mouths  of  cannon,  I  could  see  the  gleam  of  arms  and  the 
twinkling  of  bayonets. 

On  the  hill  beside  me  there  was  a  crowd  of  civilians  on 
horseback,  and  in  all  sorts  of  vehicles,  with  a  few  of  the 


SEEING  A  BATTLE.  449 

fairer,  if  not  gentler  sex.  A  few  officers  and  some  soldiers, 
who  had  straggled  from  the  regiments  in  reserve,  moved  about 
among  the  spectators,  and  pretended  to  explain  the  movements 
of  the  troops  below,  of  which  they  were  profoundly  ignorant. 

The  cannonade  and  musketry  had  been  exaggerated  by  the 
distance  and  by  the  rolling  echoes  of  the  hills  ;  and  sweeping 
the  position  narrowly  with  my  glass  from  point  to  point,  I 
failed  to  discover  any  traces  of  close  encounter  or  very  severe 
fighting.  The  spectators  were  all  excited,  and  a  lady  with  an 
opera-glass  who  was  near  me,  was  quite  beside  herself  when 
an  unusually  heavy  discharge  roused  the  current  of  her  blood 
—  "That  is  splendid.  Oh,  my  !  Is  not  that  first-rate  ?  I  guess 
we  will  be  in  Richmond  this  time  to-morrow."  These,  min 
gled  with  coarser  exclamations,  burst  from  the  politicians  who 
had  come  out  to  see  the  triumph  of  the  Union  arms.  I  was 
particularly  irritated  by  constant  applications  for  the  loan  of 
my  glass.  One  broken-down  looking  soldier  observing  my 
flask,  asked  me  for  a  drink,  and  took  a  startling  pull,  which 
left  but  little  between  the  bottom  and  utter  vacuity. 

"  Stranger,  that's  good  stuff  and  no  mistake.  I  have  not 
had  such  a  drink  since  I  come  South.  I  feel  now  as  if  I'd 
like  to  whip  ten  Seceshers." 

From  the  line  of  the  smoke  it  appeared  to  me  that  the 
action  was  in  an  oblique  line  from  our  left,  extending  farther 
outwards  towards  the  right,  bisected  by  a  road  from  Centre- 
ville,  which  descended  the  hill  close  at  hand  and  ran  right 
across  the  undulating  plain,  its  course  being  marked  by  the 
white  covers  of  the  baggage  and  commissariat  wagons  as  far 
as  a  turn  of  the  road,  where  the  trees  closed  in  upon  them. 
Beyond  the  right  of  the  curling  smoke  clouds  of  dust  appeared 
from  time  to  time  in  the  distance,  as  if  bodies  of  cavalry  were 
moving  over  a  sandy  plain. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  exultation  and  boastings  of  the 
people  at  Centreville,  I  was  well  convinced  no  advance  of  any 
importance  or  any  great  success  had  been  achieved,  because 
the  ammunition  and  baggage  wagons  had  never  moved,  nor 
had  the  reserves  received  any  orders  to  follow  in  the  line  of 
the  army. 

The  clouds  of  dust  on  the  right  were  quite  inexplicable.  As 
we  were  looking,  my  philosophic  companion  asked  me  in  per 
fect  seriousness,  "'  Are  we  really  seeing  a  battle  now  ?  Are 
they  supposed  to  be  fighting  where  all  that  smoke  is  going  on? 
This  is  rather  interesting,  you  know." 


450  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Up  came  our  black  boy.  "  Not  find  a  bit  to  eat,  sir,  in  all 
the  place."  We  had,  however,  my  little  paper  of  sandwiches, 
and  descended  the  hill  to  a  by-lane  off  the  village,  where, 
seated  in  the  shade  of  the  gig,  Mr.  Warre  and  myself,  divid 
ing  our  provision  with  the  driver,  wound  up  a  very  scanty,  but 
much  relished,  repast  with  a  bottle  of  tea  and  half  the  bottle 
of  Bordeaux  and  water,  the  remainder  being  prudently  re 
served  at  my  request  for  contingent  remainders.  Leaving 
orders  for  the  saddle-horse,  which  was  eating  his  first  meal,  to 
be  brought  up  the  moment  he  was  ready  —  I  went  with  Mr. 
Warre  to  the  hill  once  more  and  observed  that  the  line  had 
not  sensibly  altered  whilst  we  were  away. 

An  English  gentleman,  who  came  up  flushed  and  heated 
from  the  plain,  told  us  that  the  Federals  had  been  advancing 
steadily,  in  spite  of  a  stubborn  resistance,  and  had  behaved 
most  gallantly. 

Loud  cheers  suddenly  burst  from  the  spectators,  as  a  man 
dressed  in  the  uniform  of  an  officer,  whom  I  had  seen  riding 
violently  across  the  plain  in  an  open  space  below,  galloped 
along  the  front,  waving  his  cap  and  shouting  at  the  top  of  his 
voice.  He  was  brought  up  by  the  press  of  people  round  his 
horse  close  to  where  I  stood.  "  We've  whipped  them  on  all 
points,"  he  cried.  "  We  have  taken  all  their  batteries.  They 
are  retreating  as  fast  as  they  can,  and  we  are  after  them." 
Such  cheers  as  rent  the  welkin  !  The  congressmen  shook 
hands  with  each  other,  and  cried  out,  "  Bully  for  us.  Bravo ! 
didn't  I  tell  you  so."  The  Germans  uttered  their  martial  cheers 
and  the  Irish  hurrahed  wildly.  At  this  moment  my  horse  was 
brought  up  the  hill,  and  I  mounted  and  turned  towards  the 
road  to  the  front,  whilst  Mr.  Warre  and  his  companion  pro 
ceeded  straight  down  the  hill. 

By  the  time  I  reached  the  lane,  already  mentioned,  which 
was  in  a  few  minutes,  the  string  of  commissariat  wagons  was 
moving  onwards  pretty  briskly,  and  I  was  detained  until  my 
friends  appeared  at  the  roadside.  I  told  Mr.  Warre  I  was 
going  forward  to  the  front  as  fast  as  I  could,  but  that  I  would 
come  back,  under  any  circumstances,  about  an  hour  before 
dusk,  and  would  go  straight  to  the  spot  where  we  had  put  up 
the  gig  by  the  road-side,  in  order  to  return  to  Washington. 
Then  getting  into  the  fields,  I  pressed  my  horse,  which  was 
quite  recovered  from  his  twenty-seven  miles'  ride  and  full  of 
spirit  and  mettle,  as  fast  as  I  could,  making  detours  here  and 
there  to  get  through  the  ox  fences,  and  by  the  small  streams 


THE  RETURN  CURRENT.  451 

•which  cut  up  the  country.  The  firing  did  not  increase  but 
rather  diminished  in  volume,  though  it  now  sounded  close  at 
hand. 

I  had  ridden  between  three  and  a  half  and  four  miles,  as 
well  as  I  could  judge,  when  I  was  obliged  to  turn  for  the  third 
and  fourth  time  into  the  road  by  a  considerable  stream,  which 
was  spanned  by  a  bridge,  towards  which  I  was  threading  my 
way,  when  my  attention  was  attracted  by  loud  shouts  in  ad 
vance,  and  I  perceived  several  wagons  coming  from  the 
direction  of  the  battle-field,  the  drivers  of  which  were 
endeavoring  to  force  their  horses  past  the  ammunition  carts 
going  in  the  contrary  direction  near  the  bridge  ;  a  thick  cloud 
of  dust  rose  behind  them,  and  running  by  the  side  of  the  wag 
ons,  were  a  number  of  men  in  uniform  whom  I  supposed  to 
be  the  guard.  My  first  impression  was  that  the  wagons  were 
returning  for  fresh  supplies  of  ammunition.  But  every  mo 
ment  the  crowd  increased,  drivers  and  men  cried  out  with  the 
most  vehement  gestures,  "  Turn  back  !  Turn  back  !  We  are 
whipped."  They  seized  the  heads  of  the  horses  and  swore  at 
the  opposing  drivers.  Emerging  from  the  crowd  a  breathless 
man  in  the  uniform  of  an  officer  with  an  empty  scabbard 
dangling  by  his  side,  was  cut  off  by  getting  between  my  horse 
and  a  cart  for  a  moment.  "  What  is  the  matter,  sir  ?  What 
is  all  this  about  ? "  "  Why  it  means  we  are  pretty  badly 
whipped,  that's  the  truth,"  and  continued. 

By  this  time  the  confusion  had  been  communicating  itself 
through  the  line  of  wagons  towards  the  rear,  and  the  drivers 
endeavored  to  turn  round  their  vehicles  in  the  narrow  road, 
which  caused  the  usual  amount  of  imprecations  from  the  men 
and  plunging  and  kicking  from  the  horses. 

The  crowd  from  the  front  continually  increased,  the  heat, 
the  uproar,  and  the  dust  were  beyond  description,  and  these 
were  augmented  when  some  cavalry  soldiers,  flourishing  their 
sabres  and  preceded  by  an  officer  who  cried  out,  "  Make  way 
there  —  make  way  there  for  the  General,"  attempted  to  force  a 
covered  wagon  in  which  was  seated  a  man  with  a  bloody 
handkerchief  round  his  head  through  the  press. 

I  had  succeeded  in  getting  across  the  bridge  with  great  dif 
ficulty  before  the  wagon  came  up,  and  I  saw  the  crowd  on 
the  road  was  still  gathering  thicker  and  thicker.  Again  I 
asked  an  officer,  who  was  on  foot,  with  his  sword  under  his 
arm,  "  What  is  all  this  for?"  "We  are  whipped,  sir.  We 
are  all  in  retreat.  You  are  all  to  go  back."  "  Can  you  tell 


452  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

me  where  I  can  find  General  McDowell  ?  "     "  No  !  nor  can 
any  one  else." 

A  few  shells  could  be  heard  bursting  not  very  far  off,  but 
there  was  nothing  to  account  for  such  an  extraordinary  scene. 
A  third  officer,  however,  confirmed  the  report  that  the  whole 
army  was  in  retreat,  and  that  the  Federals  were  beaten  on  all 
points,  but  there  was  nothing  in  this  disorder  to  indicate  a 
general  rout.  All  these  things  took  place  in  a  few  seconds.  I 
got  up  out  of  the  road  into  a  corn-field,  through  which  men 
were  hastily  walking  or  running,  their  faces  streaming  with 
perspiration,  and  generally  without  arms,  and  worked  my  way 
for  about  half  a  mile  or  so,  as  well  as  I  could  judge,  against 
an  increasing  stream  of  fugitives,  the  ground  being  strewed 
with  coats,  blankets,  firelocks,  cooking  tins,  caps,  belts,  bayo 
nets  —  asking  in  vain  where  General  McDowell  was. 

Again  I  was  compelled  by  the  condition  of  the  fields  to 
come  into  the  road  ;  and  having  passed  a  piece  of  wood  and  a 
regiment  which  seemed  to  be  moving  back  in  column  of  march 
in  tolerably  good  order,  I  turned  once  more  into  an  opening 
close  to  a  white  house,  not  far  from  the  lane,  beyond  which 
there  was  a  belt  of  forest.  Two  field-pieces  unlimbered  near 
the  house,  with  panting  horses  in  the  rear,  were  pointed 
towards  the  front,  and  along  the  road  beside  them  there  swept 
a  tolerably  steady  column  of  men  mingled  with  field  ambu 
lances  and  light  baggage  carts,  back  to  Centreville.  I  had  just 
stretched  out  my  hand  to  get  a  cigar-light  from  a  German  gun 
ner,  when  the  dropping  shots  which  had  been  sounding  through 
the  woods  in  front  of  us,  suddenly  swelled  into  an  animated 
fire.  In  a  few  seconds  a  crowd  of  men  rushed  out  of  the 
wood  down  toward  the  guns,  and  the  artillerymen  near  me 
seized  the  trail  of  a  piece,  and  were  wheeling  it  round  to  firej 
when  an  officer  or  sergeant  called  out,  "  Stop  !  stop  !  They] 
are  our  own  men  ; "  and  in  two  or  three  minutes  the  whole 
battalion  came  sweeping  past  the  guns  at  the  double,  and  in 
the  utmost  disorder.  Some  of  the  artillerymen  dragged  the 
horses  out  of  the  tumbrils  ;  and  for  a  moment  the  confusion 
was  so  great  I  could  not  understand  what  had  taken  place  ; 
but  a  soldier  whom  I  stopped,  said,  "  We  are  pursued  by  their 
cavalry  ;  they  have  cut  us  all  to  pieces." 

Murat  himself  would  not  have  dared  to  move  a  squadron  on 
such  ground.  However,  it  could  not  be  doubted  that  some 
thing  serious  was  taking  place ;  and  at  that  moment  a  shell 
burst  in  front  of  the  house,  scattering  the  soldiers  near  it, 


RETURN  TO  CENTREVILLE.  453 

which  was  followed  by  another  that  bounded  along  the  road  ; 
and  in  a  few  minutes  more  out  came  another  regiment  from 
the  wood,  almost  as  broken  as  the  first.  The  scene  on  the 
road  had  now  assumed  an  aspect  which  hag  not  a  parallel  in 
any  description  I  have  ever  read.  Infantry  soldiers  on  mules 
and  draught  horses,  with  the  harness  clinging  to  their  heels, 
as  much  frightened  as  their  riders  ;  negro  servants  on  their 
masters'  chargers  ;  ambulances  crowded  with  unwounded  sol 
diers  ;  wagons  swarming  with  men  who  threw  out  the  con 
tents  in  the  road  to  make  room,  grinding  through  a  shouting, 
screaming  mass  of  men  on  foot,  who  were  literally  yelling 
with  rage  at  every  halt,  and  shrieking  out,  "  Here  are  the 
cavalry  !  Will  you  get  on  ?  "  This  portion  of  the  force  was 
evidently  in  discord. 

There  was  nothing  left  for  it  but  to  go  with  the  current  one 
could  not  stem.  I  turned  round  my  horse  from  the  deserted 
guns,  and  endeavored  to  find  out  what  had  occurred  as  I  rode 
quietly  back  on  the  skirts  of  the  crowd.  I  talked  with  those 
on  all  sides  of  me.  Some  uttered  prodigious  nonsense,  de 
scribing  batteries  tier  over  tier,  and  ambuscades,  and  blood 
running  knee-deep.  Others  described  how  their  boys  had 
carried  whole  lines  of  intrenchments,  but  were  beaten  back 
for  want  of  reinforcements.  The  names  of  many  regiments 
were  mentioned  as  being  utterly  destroyed.  Cavalry  and 
bayonet  charges  and  masked  batteries  played  prominent  parts 
in  all  the  narrations.  Some  of  the  officers  seemed  to  feel  the 
disgrace  of  defeat ;  but  the  strangest  thing  was  the  general 
indifference  with  which  the  event  seemed  to  be  regarded  by 
those  who  collected  their  senses  as  soon  as  they  got  out  of  fire, 
and  who  said  they  were  just  going  as  far  as  Centreville,  and 
would  have  a  big  fight  to-morrow. 

By  this  time  I  was  unwillingly  approaching  Centreville  in 
the  midst  of  heat,  dust,  confusions,  imprecations  inconceivable. 
On  arriving  at  the  place  where  a  small  rivulet  crossed  the 
road,  the  throng  increased  still  more.  The  ground  over  which 
I  had  passed  going  out  was  now  covered  with  arms,  clothing 
of  all  kinds,  accoutrements  thrown  off  and  left  to  be  trampled 
in  the  dust  under  thet  hoofs  of  men  and  horses.  The  run 
aways  ran  along-side  the  wagons,  striving  to  force  themselves 
in  among  the  occupants,  who  resisted  tooth  and  nail.  The 
drivers  spurred  and  whipped  and  urged  the  horses  to  the 
utmost  of  their  bent.  I  felt  an  inclination  to  laugh,  which 
was  overcome  by  disgust,  and  by  that  vague  sense  of  some- 


454  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

tiling  extraordinary  taking  place  which  is  experienced  when  a 
man  sees  a  number  of  people  acting  as  if  driven  by  some  un 
known  terror.  As  I  rode  in  the  crowd  with  men  clinging  to 
the  stirrup-leathers,  or  holding  on  by  anything  they  could  lay 
hands  on,  so  that  I  had  some  apprehension  of  being  pulled  off, 
I  spoke  to  the  men,  and  asked  them  over  and  over  again  not 
to  be  in  such  a  hurry.  "  There's  no  enemy  to  pursue  you. 
All  the  cavalry  in  the  world  could  not  get  at  you."  But  I 
might  as  well  have  talked  to  the  stones. 

For  my  own  part,  I  wanted  to  get  out  of  the  ruck  as  fast  as 
I  could,  for  the  heat  and  dust  were  very  distressing,  particu 
larly  to  a  half-starved  man.  Many  of  the  fugitives  were  in 
the  last  stages  of  exhaustion,  and  some  actually  sank  down  by 
the  fences,  at  the  risk  of  being  trampled  to  death.  Above  the 
roar  of  the  flight,  which  was  like  the  rush  of  a  great  river,  the 
guns  burst  forth  from  time  to  time. 

The  road  at  last  became  somewhat  clearer ;  for  I  had  got 
ahead  of  some  of  the  ammunition  train  and  wagons,  and  the 
others  were  dashing  up  the  hill  towards  Centreville.  The 
men's  great-coats  and  blankets  had  been  stowed  in  the  trains  ; 
but  the  fugitives  had  apparently  thrown  them  out  on  the  road, 
to  make  room  for  themselves.  Just  beyond  the  stream  I  saw 
a  heap  of  clothing  tumble  out  of  a  large  covered  cart,  and  cried 
out  after  the  driver,  "  Stop !  stop  !  All  the  things  are  tum 
bling  out  of  the  cart."  But  my  zeal  was  checked  by  a  scoun 
drel  putting  his  head  out,  and  shouting  with  a  curse,  "If  you 

try  to  stop  the  team,  I'll  blow  your brains  out."  My 

brains  advised  me  to  adopt  the  principle  of  non-intervention. 

It  never  occurred  to  me  that  this  was  a  grand  debacle.  All 
along  I  believed  the  mass  of  the  army  was  not  broken,  and 
that  all  I  saw  around  was  the  result  of  confusion  created  in  a 
crude  organization  by  a  forced  retreat ;  and  knowing  the  re 
serves  were  at  Centreville  and  beyond,  I  said  to  myself,  "  Let 
us  see  how  this  will  be  when  we  get  to  the  hill."  I  indulged 
in  a  quiet  chuckle,  too,  at  the  idea  of  my  philosophical  friend 
and  his  stout  companion  finding  themselves  suddenly  envelop 
ed  in  the  crowd  of  fugitives  ;  but  knew  they  could  easily  have 
regained  their  original  position  on  the.  hill.  Trotting  along 
briskly  through  the  fields,  I  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  slope  on 
which  Centreville  stands,  and  met  a  German  regiment  just 
deploying  into  line  very  well  and  steadily  —  the  men  in  the 
rear  companies  laughing,  smoking,  singing,  and  jesting  with 
the  fugitives,  who  were  filing  past ;  but  no  thought  of  stopping 


THE  RESERVES   FORMING.  455 

the  wagons,  as  the  orders  repeated  from  mouth  to  mouth 
were  that  they  were  to  fall  back  beyond  Centreville. 

The  air  of  the  men  was  good.  The  officers  were  cheerful, 
and  one  big  German  with  a  great  pipe  in  his  bearded  mouth, 
with  spectacles  on  nose,  amused  himself  by  pricking  the 
horses  with  his  sabre  point,  as  he  passed,  to  the  sore  discom 
fiture  of  the  riders.  Behind  the  regiment  came  a  battery  of 
brass  field-pieces,  and  another  regiment  in  column  of  march 
was  following  the  guns.  They  were  going  to  form  line  at  the 
end  of  the  slope,  and  no  fairer  position  could  well  be  offered 
for  a  defensive  attitude,  although  it  might  be  turned.  But  it 
was  getting  too  late  for  the  enemy  wherever  they  were  to  at 
tempt  such  an  extensive  operation.  Several  times  I  had  been 
asked  by  officers  and  men,  "  Where  do  you  think  we  will  halt  ? 
Where  are  the  rest  of  the  army  ?  "  I  always  replied  "  Cen 
treville,"  and  I  had  heard  hundreds  of  the  fugitives  say  they 
were  going  to  Centreville. 

I  rode  up  the  road,  turned  into  the  little  street  which  car 
ries  the  road  on  the  right-hand  side  to  Fairfax  Court  House 
and  the  hill,  and  wrent  straight  to  the  place  where  I  had  left 
the  buggy  in  a  lane  on  the  left  of  the  road  beside  a  small 
house  and  shed,  expecting  to  find  Mr.  Warre  ready  for  a  start, 
as  I  had  faithfully  promised  Lord  Lyons  he  should  be  back 
that  night  in  Washington.  The  buggy  was  not  there.  I 
pulled  open  the  door  of  the  shed  in  which  the  horses  had 
been  sheltered  out  of  the  sun.  They  were  gone.  "Oh," 
said  I,  to  myself,  "  of  course  !  What  a  stupid  fellow  I  am. 
Warre  has  had  the  horses  put  in  and  taken  the  gig  to  the  top 
of  the  hill,  in  order  to  see  the  last  of  it  before  we  go."  And 
so  I  rode  over  to  the  ridge  ;  but  arriving  there,  could  see  no 
sign  of  our  vehicle  far  or  near.  There  were  two  carriages  of 
•some  kind  or  other  still  remaining  on  the  hill,  and  a  few  spec 
tators,  civilians  and  military,  gazing  on  the  scene  below,  which 
was  softened  in  the  golden  rays  of  the  declining  sun.  The 
smoke  wreaths  had  ceased  to  curl  over  the  green  sheets  of 
billowy  forest  as  sea-foam  crisping  in  a  gentle  breeze  breaks 
the  lines  of  the  ocean.  But  far  and  near  yellow  and  dun- 
colored  piles  of  dust  seamed  the  landscape,  leaving  behind 
them  long  trailing  clouds  of  lighter  vapors  which  were  dotted 
now  and  then  by  white  puff-balls  from  the  bursting  of  shell. 
On  the  right  these  clouds  were  very  heavy  and  seemed  to  ap 
proach  rapidly,  and  it  occurred  to  me  they  might  be  caused 
by  an  advance  of  the  much  spoken-of  and  little  seen  cavalry  ; 


456  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

and  remembering  the  cross  road  from  Germantown,  it  seemed 
a  very  fine  and  very  feasible  operation  for  the  Confederates  to 
cut  right  in  on  the  line  of  retreat  and  communication,  in  which 
case  the  fate  of  the  army  and  of  Washington  could  not  be 
dubious.  There  were  now  few  civilians  on  the  hill,  and  these 
were  thinning  away.  Some  were  gesticulating  and  explain 
ing  to  one  another  the  causes  of  the  retreat,  looking  very  hot 
and  red.  The  confusion  among  the  last  portion  of  the  car 
riages  and  fugitives  on  the  road,  which  I  had  outstripped,  had 
been  renewed  again,  and  the  crowd  there  presented  a  remark 
able  and  ludicrous  aspect  through  the  glass  ;  but  there  were 
two  strong  battalions  in  good  order  near  the  foot  of  the  hill,  a 
battery  on  the  slope,  another  on  the  top,  and  a  portion  of  a 
regiment  in  and  about  the  houses  of  the  village. 

A  farewell  look  at  the  scene  presented  no  new  features. 
Still  the  clouds  of  dust  moved  onwards  denser  and  higher  ; 
flashes  of  arms  lighted  them  up  at  times ;  the  fields  were  dotted 
by  fugitives,  among  whom  many  mounted  men  were  marked 
by  their  greater  speed,  and  the  little  flocks  of  dust  rising  from 
the  horses'  feet. 

I  put  up  my  glass,  and  turning  from  the  hill,  with  difficulty 
forced  my  way  through  the  crowd  of  vehicles  which  were  mak 
ing  their  way  towards  the  main  road  in  the  direction  of  the 
lane,  hoping  that  by  some  lucky  accident  I  might  find  the  gig 
in  waiting  for  me.  But  I  sought  in  vain  ;  a  sick  soldier  who 
was  on  a  stretcher  in  front  of  the  house  near  the  corner  of 
the  lane,  leaning  on  his  elbow  and  looking  at  the  stream  of 
men  and  carriages,  asked  me  if  I  could  tell  him  what  they 
were  in  such  a  hurry  for,  and  I  said  they  were  merely  getting 
back  to  their  bivouacs.  A  man  dressed  in  civilian's  clothes 
grinned  as  I  spoke.  "  I  think  they'll  go  farther  than  that," 
said  he  ;  and  then  added,  "  If  you're  looking  for  the  wagon 
you  came  in,  it's  pretty  well  back  to  Washington  by  this  time. 
I  think  I  saw  you  down  theere  with  a  nigger  and  two  men." 
"  Yes."  "  They're  all  off,  gone  more  than  an  hour  and  a  half 
ago,  I  think,  and  a  stout  man  —  I  thought  was  you  at  first  — 
along  with  them." 

Nothing  was  left  for  it  but  to  brace  up  the  girths  for  a  ride 
to  the  Capitol,  for  which,  hungry  and  fagged  as  I  was,  I  felt 
very  little  inclination.  I  was  trotting  quietly  down  the  hill 
road  beyond  Centreville,  when  suddenly  the  guns  on  the  other 
side,  or  from  a  battery  very  near,  opened  fire,  and  a  fresh  out 
burst  of  artillery  sounded  through  the  woods.  In  an  instant 


THE  PANIC  ON  THE  ROAD.  457 

the  mass  of  vehicles  and  retreating  soldiers,  teamsters,  and 
civilians,  as  if  agonized  by  an  electric  shock,  quivered  through 
out  the  tortuous  line.  With  dreadful  shouts  and  cursings,  the 
drivers  lashed  their  maddened  horses,  and  leaping  from  the 
carts,  left  them  to  their  fate,  and  ran  on  foot.  Artillerymen 
and  foot  soldiers,  and  negroes  mounted  on  gun  horses,  with 
the  chain  traces  and  loose  trappings  trailing  in  the  dust,  spur 
red  and  flogged  their  steeds  down  the  road  or  by  the  side 
paths.  The  firing  continued  and  seemed  to  approach  the  hill, 
and  at  every  report  the  agitated  body  of  horsemen  and  wag 
ons  was  seized,  as  it  were,  with  a  fresh  convulsion. 

Once  more  the  dreaded  cry,  "  The  cavalry  !  cavalry  are 
coming  !  "  rang  through  the  crowd,  and  looking  back  to  Cen- 
treville  I  perceived  coming  down  the  hill,  between  me  and  the 
sky,  a  number  of  mounted  men,  who  might  at  a  hasty  glance 
be  taken  for  horsemen  in  the  act  of  sabreing  the  fugitives. 
In  reality  they  were  soldiers  and  civilians,  with,  I  regret  to 
say,  some  officers  among  them,  who  were  whipping  and  strik 
ing  their  horses  with  sticks  or  whatever  else  they  could  lay 
hands  on.  I  called  out  to  the  men  who  were  frantic  with  ter 
ror  beside  me,  "  They  are  not  cavalry  at  all :  they're  your 
own  men  "  —  but  they  did  not  heed  me.  A  fellow  who  was 
shouting  out,  "  Run  !  run  !  "  as  loud  as  he  could  beside  me, 
seemed  to  take  delight  in  creating  alarm  ;  and  as  he  was  per 
fectly  collected  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  I  said,  "  What  on 
earth  are  you  running  for  ?  What  are  you  afraid  of?  "  He 
was  in  the  roadside  below  me,  and  at  once  turning  on  me,  and 
exclaiming,  "  I'm  not  afraid  of  you,"  presented  his  piece  and 
pulled  the  trigger  so  instantaneously,  that  had  it  gone  off*  I 
could  not  have  swerved  from  the  ball.  As  the  scoundrel  de 
liberately  drew  up  to  examine  the  nipple,  I  judged  it  best 
not  to  give  him  another  chance,  and  spurred  on  through  the 
crowd,  where  any  man  could  have  shot  as  many  as  he  pleased 
without  interruption.  The  only  conclusion  I  came  to  was, 
that  he  was  mad  or  drunken.  When  I  was  passing  by  the 
line  of  the  bivouacs  a  battalion  of  men  came  tumbling  down 
the  bank  from  the  field  into  the  road,  with  fixed  bayonets,  and 
as  some  fell  in  the  road  and  others  tumbled  on  top  of  them, 
there  must  have  been  a  few  ingloriously  wounded. 

I  galloped  on  for  a  short  distance  to  head  the  ruck,  for  I 

could  not  tell  whether  this  body  of  infantry  intended  moving 

back  towards  Centreville  or  were  coming  down  the  road;  but 

the  mounted  men  galloping  furiously  past  me,  with  a  cry  of 

20 


458  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

"  Cavalry  !  cavalry  ! "  on  their  lips,  swept  on  faster  than  I  did, 
augmenting  the  alarm  and  excitement.  I  came  up  with  two 
officers  who  were  riding  more  leisurely  ;  and  touching  my  hat, 
said,  "  I  venture  to  suggest  that  these  men  should  he  stopped, 
sir.  If  not,  they  will  alarm  the  whole  of  the  post  and  pickets 
on  to  Washington.  They  will  fly  next,  and  the  consequences 
will  be  most  disastrous."  One  of  the  two,  looking  at  me  for 
a  moment,  nodded  his  head  without  saying  a  word,  spurred  his 
horse  to  full  speed,  and  dashed  on  in  front  along  the  road. 
Following  more  leisurely  I  observed  the  fugitives  in  front  were 
suddenly  checked  in  their  speed  ;  and  as  I  turned  my  horse 
into  the  wood  by  the  road  side  to  get  on  so  as  to  prevent  the 
chance  of  another  block-up,  I  passed  several  private  vehicles, 
in  one  of  which  Mr.  Raymond,  of  the  "  New  York  Times,"  was 
seated  with  some  friends,  looking  by  no  means  happy.  He 
says  in  his  report  to  his  paper,  "About  a  mile  this  side  of 
Centreville  a  stampede  took  place  amongst  the  teamsters  and 
others,  which  threw  everything  into  the  utmost  confusion,  and 
inflicted  very  serious  injuries.  Mr.  Eaton,  of  Michigan,  in 
trying  to  arrest  the  flight  of  some  of  these  men,  was  shot  by 
one  of  them,  the  ball  taking  effect  in  his  hand."  He  asked 
me,  in  some  anxiety,  what  I  thought  would  happen.  I  replied, 
"No  doubt  McDowell  will  stand  fast  at  Centreville  to-night. 
These  are  mere  runaways,  and  unless  the  enemy's  cavalry 
succeed  in  getting  through  at  this  road,  there  is  nothing  to 
apprehend." 

And  I  continued  through  the  wood  till  I  got  a  clear  space 
in  front  on  the  road,  along  which  a  regiment  of  infantry  was 
advancing  towards  me.  They  halted  ere  I  came  up,  and  with 
levelled  firelocks  arrested  the  men  on  horses  and  the  carts  and 
wagons  galloping  towards  them,  and  blocked  up  the  road  to 
stop  their  progress.  As  I  tried  to  edge  by  on  the  right  of  the 
column  by  the  left  of  the  road,  a  soldier  presented  his  firelock 
at  my  head  from  the  higher  ground  on  which  he  stood,  for  the 
road  had  a  deep  trench  cut  on  the  side  by  which  I  was  endeav 
oring  to  pass,  and  sung  out,  "Halt!  Stop  —  or  I  fire !" 
The  officers  in  front  were  waving  their  swords  and  shouting 
out,  "  Don't  let  a  soul  pass  !  Keep  back  !  keep  back  !  "  Bow 
ing  to  the  officer  who  was  near  me,  I  said,  "  I  beg  to  assure 
you,  sir,  I  arn  not  running  away.  I  am  a  civilian  and  a  Brit 
ish  subject.  I  have  done  my  best  as  I  came  along  to  stop  this 
disgraceful  rout.  I  am  in  no  hurry  ;  J  merely  want  to  get 
back  to  Washington  to-night.  I  have  been  telling  them  all 


"PASS  THAT  MAN."  459 

along  there  are  no  cavalry  near  us."  The  officer  to  whom  I 
was  speaking,  young  and  somewhat  excited,  kept  repeating, 
"  Keep  back,  sir  !  keep  back  !  you  must  keep  back."  Again  I 
said  to  him,  "  I  assure  you  I  am  not  with  this  crowd  ;  my  pulse 
is  as  cool  as  your  own."  But  as  he  paid  no  attention  to  what 
I  said,  I  suddenly  bethought  me  of  General  Scott's  letter,  and 
addressing  another  officer,  said,  "I  am  a  civilian  going  to 
Washington  ;  will  you  be  kind  enough  to  look  at  this  pass, 
specially  given  to  me  by  General  Scott."  The  officer  looked 
at  it,  and  handed  it  to  a  mounted  man,  either  adjutant  or 
colonel,  who,  having  examined  it,  returned  it  to  me,  saying, 
"  Oh,  yes  !  certainly.  Pass  that  man  !  "  And  with  a  cry  of 
"  Pass  that  man  !  "  along  the  line,  I  rode  down  the  trench  very 
leisurely,  and  got  out  on  the  road,  which  was  now  clear,  though 
some  fugitives  had  stolen  through  the  woods  on  the  flanks  of 
the  column  and  were  in  front  of  me. 

A  little  further  on  there  was  a  cart  on  the  right-hand  side 
of  the  road,  surrounded  by  a  group  of  soldiers.  I  was  trotting 
past  when  a  respectable- looking  man  in  a  semi-military  garb, 
coming  out  from  the  group,  said,  in  a  tone  of  much  doubt  and 
distress  —  "Can  you  tell  me,  sir,  for  God's  sake,  where  the 
69th  New  York  are?  These  men  tell  me  they  are  all  cut  to 
pieces."  "  And  so  they  are,"  exclaimed  one  of  the  fellows, 
who  had  the  number  of  the  regiment  on  his  cap. 

"  You  hear  what  they  say,  sir  ?  "  exclaimed  the  man. 

"I  do,  but  I  really  cannot  tell  you  where  the  69th  are." 

"  I'm  in  charge  of  these  mails,  and  I'll  deliver  them  if  I  die 
for  it ;  but  is  it  safe  for  me  to  go  on  ?  You  are  a  gentleman, 
and  I  can  depend  on  your  word." 

His  assistant  and  himself  were  in  the  greatest  perplexity  of 
mind,  but  all  I  could  say  was,  "  I  really  can't  tell  you  ;  I  be 
lieve  the  army  will  halt  at  Centreville  to-night,  and  I  think 
you  may  go  on  there  with  the  greatest  safety,  if  you  can  get 
through  the  crowd."  "  Faith,  then,  he  can't,"  exclaimed  one 
of  the  soldiers. 

"Why  not?"  "  Shure,  arn't  we  cut  to  pieces.  Didn't  I 
hear  the  kurnel  himsilf  saying  we  was  all  of  us  to  cut  and 
run,  every  man  on  his  own  hook,  as  well  as  he  could.  Stop 
at  Cinthreville,  indeed!" 

I  bade  the  mail  agent  *  good  evening  and  rode  on,  but  even 

*  I  have  since  met  the  person  referred  to,  an  Englishman  living  in 
Washington,  and  well  known  at  the  Legation  and  elsewhere.  Mr. 
Dawsou  came  to  tell  me  that  he  had  seen  a  letter  in  an  American 


4 BO  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

in  this  short  colloquy  stragglers  on  foot  and  on  horseback,  who 
had  turned  the  flanks  of  the  regiment  by  side-paths  or  through 
the  woods,  came  pouring  along  the  road  once  more. 

Somewhere  about  this  I  was  accosted  by  a  stout,  elderly 
man,  with  the  air  and  appearance  of  a  respectable  mechanic, 
or  small  tavern-keeper,  who  introduced  himself  as  having  met 
me  at  Cairo.  He  poured  out  a  flood  of  woes  on  me,  how  he 
had  lost  his  friend  and  companion,  nearly  lost  his  seat  several 
times,  was  unaccustomed  to  riding,  was  suffering  much  pain 
from  the  unusual  position  and  exercise,  did  not  know  the  road, 
feared  he  would  never  be  able  to  get  on,  dreaded  he  might  be 
captured  and  ill-treated  if  he  was  known,  and  such  topics  as 
a  selfish  man  in  a  good  deal  of  pain  or  fear  is  likely  to  indulge 
in.  I  calmed  his  apprehensions  as  well  as  I  could,  by  saying, 
"  I  had  no  doubt  McDowell  would  halt  and  show  fight  at  Cen- 
treville,  and  be  able  to  advance  from  it  in  a  day  or  two  to 
renew  the  fight  again  ;  that  he  couldn't  miss  the  road  ;  whiskey 
and  tallow  were  good  for  abrasions  ; "  and  as  I  was  riding  very 
slowly,  he  jogged  along,  for  he  was  a  bur,  and  would  stick, 
with  many  "  Oh  dears  !  Oh  !  dear  me ! "  for  most  part  of 
the  way  joining  me  at  intervals  till  I  reached  Fairfax  Court 
House.  A  body  of  infantry  were  under  arms  in  a  grove  near 

journal,  which  was  copied  extensively  all  over  the  Union,  in  which  the 
writer  stated  lie  accompanied  me  on  my  return  to  Fairfax  Court  House, 
and  that  the  incident  I  related  in  my  account  of  Bull  Run  did  not 
occur,  but  that  he  was  the  individual  referred  to,  and  could  swear 
with  his  assistant  that  everjr  word  I  wrote  was  true.  I  did  not  need 
any  such  corroboration  for  the  satisfaction  of  any  who  know  me  ;  and 
I  was  quite  well  aware  that  if  one  came  from  the  dead  to  bear  testi 
mony  in  my  favor  before  the  American  journals  and  public,  the  evi 
dence  would  not  countervail  the  slander  of  any  characterless  scribe 
who  sought  to  gain  a  moment's  notoriety  by  a  flat  contradiction  of  my 
narrative.  I  may  add,  that  Dawson  begged  of  me  not  to  bring  him 

before  the  public,  "  because  I  am  now  sutler  to  the th,   over  in 

Virginia,  and  they  would  dismiss  me."  "  What !  For  certifying  to 
the  truth  ?  "  "  You  know,  sir,  it  might  do  me  harm."  Whilst  on 
this  subject,  let  me  remark  that  some  time  afterwards  I  was  in  Mr. 
Brady's  photographic  studio  in  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  Washington, 
when  the  very  intelligent  and  obliging  manager  introduced  himself  to 
me,  and  said  that  he  wished  to  have  an  opportunity  of  repeating  to 
me  personally  what  he  had  frequently  told  persons  in  the  place,  "that 
lie  could  bear  the  fullest  testimony  to  the  complete  accuracy  of  my  ac 
count  of  the  panic  from  Centreville  down  the  road  at  the  time  I  left, 
and  that  lie  and  his  assistants,  who  were  on  the  spot  trying  to  get  away 
their  photographic  van  and  apparatus,  could  certify  that  my  descrip 
tion  fell  far  short  of  the  disgraceful  spectacle  and  of  the  excesses  of 
the  flight. 


THE  VIRGINIAN'S.  461 

the  Court  House,  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  road.  The 
door  and  windows  of  the  houses  presented  crowds  of  faces 
black  and  white  ;  and  men  and  women  stood  out  upon  the 
porch,  who  .asked  me  as  I  passed,  "  Have  you  been  at  the 
fight?"  "What  are  they  all  running  for?"  "Are  the  rest 
of  them  coming  on  ?  "  to  which  I  gave  the  same  replies  as 
before. 

Arrived  at  the  little  inn  where  I  had  halted  in  the  morn 
ing,  I  perceived  the  sharp-faced  woman  in  black  standing  in 
the  veranda  with  an  elderly  man,  a  taller  and  younger  one 
dressed  in  black,  a  little  girl,  and  a  woman  who  stood  in  the 
passage  of  the  door.  I  asked  if  I  could  get  anything  to  eat. 
"  Not  a  morsel ;  there's  not  a  bit  left  in  the  house,  but  you  can 
get  something,  perhaps,  if  you  like  to  stay  till  supper-time." 
"  Would  you  oblige  me  by  telling  me  where  I  can  #et  some 
water  for  my  horse  ?  "  "  Oh,  certainly,"  said  the  elder  man, 
and  calling  to  a  negro  he  directed  him  to  bring  a  bucket  from 
the  well  or  pump,  into  which  the  thirsty  brute  buried  its  head 
to  the  eyes.  Whilst  the  hoive  was  drinking,  the  taller  or 
younger  man,  leaning  over  the  veranda,  asked  me  quietly 
*"  What  are  all  the  people  coming  back  for  ?  — -  what's  set  them 
a-running  towards  Alexandria?" 

"  Oh,  it's  only  a  fright  the  drivers  of  the  commissariat 
wagons  have  had  ;  they  are  afraid  of  the  enemy's  cavalry." 

"  Ah  ! "  said  the  man,  and  looking  at  me  narrowly  he  in 
quired,  after  a  pause,  "  Are  you  an  American  ?  " 

"  No,  I  am  not,  thank  God ;  I'm  an  Englishman." 

"  Well  then,"  said  he,  nodding  his  head  and  speaking  slowly 
through  his  teeth  ;  "  there  will  be  cavalry  after  them  soon 
enough  ;  there  is  20,000  of  the  best  horsemen  in  the  world  in 
old  Virginny." 

Having  received  full  directions  from  the  people  at  the  inn 
for  the  road  to  the  Long  Bridge,  which  I  was  most  anxious  to 
reach  instead  of  going  to  Alexandria  or  to  Georgetown,  I  bade 
the  Virginian  good-evening ;  and  seeing  that  my  stout  friend, 
who  had  also  watered  his  horse  by  my  advice  at  the  inn,  was 
still  clinging  along-side,  I  excused  myself  by  saying  I  must 
press  on  to  Washington,  and  galloped  on  for  a  mile,  until  I  got 
into  the  cover  of  a  wood,  where  I  dismounted  to  examine  the 
horse's  hoofs  and  shift  the  saddle  for  a  moment,  wipe  the  sweat 
off  his  back,  and  make  him  and  myself  as  comfortable  as  could 
be  for  our  ride  into  Washington,  which  was  still  seventeen  or 
eighteen  miles  before  me.  I  passed  groups  of  men,  some  on 


462  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

horseback,  others  on  foot,  going  at  a  more  leisurely  rate  tow 
ards  the  capital  ;  and  as  I  was  smoking  my  last  cigar  by  the 
side  of  the  wood,  I  observed  the  number  had  rather  increased, 
and  that  among  the  retreating  stragglers  were  some  men  who 
appeared  to  be  wounded. 

The  sun  had  set,  but  the  rising  moon  was  adding  every  mo 
ment  to  the  lightness  of  the  road  as  I  mounted  once  more 
and  set  out  at  a  long  trot  for  the  capital.  Presently  I  was 
overtaken  by  a  wagon  with  a  small  escort  of  cavalry  and  an 
officer  riding  in  front.  I  had  seen  the  same  vehicle  once  or 
twice  along  the  road,  and  observed  an  officer  seated  in  it  with 
his  head  bound  up  with  a  handkerchief,  looking  very  pale  and 
ghastly.  The  mounted  officer  leading  the  escort  asked  me  if  I 
was  going  into  Washington  and  knew  the  road.  I  told  him 
I  had  never  been  on  it  before,  but  thought  I  could  find  my 
way,  "  at  any  rate  we'll  find  plenty  to  tell  us."  That's  Colonel 
Hunter  inside  the  carriage,  he's  shot  through  the  throat  and 
jaw,  and  I  want  to  get  him  to  the  doctor's  in  Washington  as 
soon  as  I  can.  Have  you  been  to  the  fight  ?  " 

"No,  sir." 

"A  member  of  Congress,  I  suppose,  sir?" 

"  No  sir  ;  I'm  an  Englishman." 

"  Oh,  indeed,  sir,  then  I'm  glad  you  did  not  see  it ;  so  mean  a 
fight,  sir,  I  never  saw ;  we  whipped  the  cusses  and  drove  them 
before  us,  and  took  their  batteries  and  spiked  their  guns,  and  got 
right  up  in  among  all  their  dirt  works  and  great  batteries  and 
forts,  driving  them  before  us  like  sheep,  when  up  more  of  them 
would  get,  as  if  out  of  the  ground,  then  our  boys  would  drive 
them  again  till  we  were  fairly  worn  out ;  they  had  nothing  to 
eat  since  last  night  and  nothing  to  drink.  I  myself  have  not 
tasted  a  morsel  since  two  o'clock  last  night.  Well,  there  we 
were  waiting  for  reinforcements  and  expecting  McDowell  and 
the  rest  of  the  army,  when  whish  !  they  threw  open  a  whole 
lot  of  masked  batteries  on  us,  and  then  came  down  such 
swarms  of  horsemen  on  black  horses,  all  black  as  you  never 
saw,  and  slashed  our  boys  over  finely.  The  colonel  was  hit, 
and  I  thought  it  best  to  get  him  off  as  well  as  I  could,  before 
it  was  too  late.  And,  my  God  !  when  they  did  take  to  run 
ning  they  did  it  first-rate,  I  can  tell  you  ; "  and  so,  the  officer, 
who  had  evidently  taken  enough  to  affect  his  empty  stomach 
and  head,  chattering  about  the  fight,  we  trotted  on  in  the  moon 
light  :  dipping  down  into  the  valleys  on  the  road,  which  seem 
ed  like  inky  lakes  in  the  shadows  of  the  black  trees,  then 


A  NIGHT  RIDE.  463 

mounting  up  again  along  the  white  road,  which  shone  like  a 
river  in  the  moonlight — the  country  silent  as  death,  though 
once  as  we  crossed  a  small  watercourse  and  the  noise  of  the 
carriage-wheels  ceased,  I  called  the  attention  of  my  companions 
to  a  distant  sound,  as  of  a  great  multitude  of  people  mingled 
with  a  faint  report  of  cannon.  "  Do  you  hear  that  ?  "  "  No, 
I  don't.  But  it's  our  chaps,  no  doubt.  They're  coming  along 
fine,  I  can  promise  you."  At  last  some  miles  further  on  we 
came  to  a  picket,  or  main  guard,  on  the  roadside,  who  ran  for 
ward,  crying  out,  "What's  the  news  —  anything  fresh  —  are 
we  whipped  ?  —  is  it  a  fact  ?  "  "  Well,  gentlemen,"  exclaim 
ed  the  Major,  reining  up  for  a  moment,  "  we  are  knocked  in 
to  a  cocked  hat  —  licked  to  h — 1."  "Oh,  pray,  don't  say 
that,"  I  exclaimed,  "  it's  not  quite  so  bad  ;  it's  only  a  drawn 
battle,  and  the  troops  will  occupy  Centreville  to-night,  and  the 
posts  they  started  from  this  morning." 

A  little  further  on  we  met  a  line  of  commissariat  carts,  and 
my  excited  and  rather  injudicious  military  friend  appeared  to 
take  the  greatest  pleasure  in  replying  to  their  anxious  queries 
for  news,  "  We  are  whipped  !  Whipped  like  h — 1." 

At  the  cross-roads  now  and  then  we  were  perplexed,  for  no 
one  knew  the  bearings  of  Washington,  though  the  stars  were 
bright  enough  ;  but  good  fortune  favored  us  and  kept  us 
straight,  and  at  a  deserted  little  village,  with  a  solitary  church 
on  the  roadside,  I  increased  my  pace,  bade  good-night  and 
good  speed  to  the  officer,  and  having  kept  company  with  two 
men  in  a  gig  for  some  time,  got  at  length  on  the  guarded  road 
leading  towards  the  capital,  and  was  stopped  by  the  pickets, 
patrols,  and  grand  rounds,  making  repeated  demands  for  the 
last  accounts  from  the  field.  The  houses  by  the  roadside  were 
all  closed  up  and  in  darkness,  I  knocked  in  vain  at  several  for 
a  drink  of  water,  but  was  answered  only  by  the  angry  bark 
ings  of  the  watch-dogs  from  the  slave  quarters.  It  was  a  pe 
culiarity  of  the  road  that  the  people,  and  soldiers  I  met,  at 
points  several  miles  apart,  always  insisted  that  I  was  twelve 
miles  from  Washington.  Up  hills,  down  valleys,  with  the 
silent  grim  woods  forever  by  my  side,  the  white  roads  and 
the  black  shadows  of  men,  still  I  was  twelve  miles  from  the 
Long  Bridge,  but  suddenly  I  came  upon  a  grand  guard  under 
arms,  who  had  quite  different  ideas,  and  who  said  I  was  only 
about  four  miles  from  the  river  ;  they  crowded  round  me. 
"  Well,  man,  and  how  is  the  fight  going  ?  "  I  repeated  my 
tale.  "  What  does  he  say  ?  "  "  Oh,  begorra,  he  says  we're  not 


464  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

bet  at  all ;  it's  all  lies  they  have  been  telling  us ;  we're  only 
going  back  to  the  ould  lines  for  the  greater  convaniency  of 
fighting  to-morrow  again  ;  that's  illigant,  hooro  !  " 

All  by  the  sides  of  the  old  camps  the  men  were  standing, 
lining  the  road,  and  I  was  obliged  to  evade  many  a  grasp  at 
my  bridle  by  shouting  out  "  Don't  stop  me  ;  I've  important 
news  ;  it's  all  well  ! "  and  still  the  good  horse,  refreshed  by  the 
cool  night  air,  went  clattering  on,  till  from  the  top  of  the  road 
beyond  Arlington  I  caught  a  sight  of  the  lights  of  Washington 
and  the  white  buildings  of  the  Capitol,  and  of  the  Executive 
Mansion,  glittering  like  snow  in  the  moonlight.  At  the  en 
trance  to  the  Long  Bridge  the  sentry  challenged  and  asked  for 
the  countersign.  "  I  have  not  got  it,  but  I've  a  pass  from 
General  Scott."  An  officer  advanced  from  the  guard,  and  on 
reading  the  pass  permitted  me  to  go  on  without  difficulty.  He 
said,  "  I  have  been  obliged  to  let  a  good  many  go  over  to-night 
before  you,  congressmen  and  others.  I  suppose  you  did  not 
expect  to  be  corning  back  so  soon.  I  fear  it's  a  bad  business." 
"  Oh,  not  so  bad  after  all ;  I  expected  to  have  been  back  to 
night  before  nine  o'clock,  and  crossed  over  this  morning  with 
out  the  countersign."  "  Well,  I  guess,"  said  he,  "  we  don't  do 
such  quick  fighting  as  that  in  this  country." 

As  I  crossed  the  Long  Bridge  there  was  scarce  a  sound  to 
dispute  the  possession  of  its  echoes  with  my  horse's  hoofs.  The 
poor  beast  had  carried  me  nobly  and  well,  and  I  made  up  my 
mind  to  buy  him,  as  I  had  no  doubt  he  would  answer  perfectly 
to  carry  me  back  in  a  day  or  two  to  McDowell's  army  by  the 
time  he  had  organized  it  for  a  new  attack  upon  the  enemy's 
position.  Little  did  I  conceive  the  greatness  of  the  defeat,  the 
magnitude  of  the  disasters  which  it  had  entailed  upon  the  Unit 
ed  States  or  the  interval  that  would  elapse  before  another  army 
set  out  from  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  onward  to  Richmond. 
Had  I  sat  down  that  night  to  write  my  letter,  quite  ignorant  at 
the  time  of  the  great  calamity  which  had  befallen  his  army,  in 
all  probability  I  would  have  stated  that  McDowell  had  received 
a  severe  repulse,  and  had  fallen  back  upon  Centreville,  that  a 
disgraceful  panic  and  confusion  had  attended  the  retreat  of  a 
portion  of  his  army,  but  that  the  appearance  of  the  reserves 
would  probably  prevent  the  enemy  taking  any  advantage  of  the 
disorder ;  and  as  I  would  have  merely  been  able  to  describe 
such  incidents  as  came  under  my  own  observation,  and  would 
have  left  the  American  journals  to  narrate  the  actual  details, 
and  the  despatches  of  the  American  Generals  the  strategical 


OVER  THE  LONG  BRIDGE.  465 

events  of  the  day,  I  should  have  led  the  world  at  home  to  be 
lieve,  as,  in  fact,  I  believed  myself  that  McDowell's  retrograde 
movement  would  be  arrested  at  some  point  between  Centre- 
villeand  Fairfax  Court  House. 

The  letter  that  I  was  to  write  occupied  my  mind  whilst  I 
was  crossing  the  Long  Bridge,  gazing  at  the  lights  reflected 
in  the  Potomac  from  the  city.  The  night  had  become  overcast, 
and  heavy  clouds  rising  up  rapidly  obscured  the  moon,  form 
ing  a  most  fantastic  mass  of  shapes  in  the  sky. 

At  the  Washington  end  of  the  bridge  I  was  challenged 
again  by  the  men  of  a  whole  regiment,  who,  with  piled  arms, 
were  halted  on  the  chaussee,  smoking,  laughing,  and  singing. 
"  Stranger,  have  you  been  to  the  fight  ?  "  "I  have  been  only 
a  little  beyond  Centreville."  But  that  was  quite  enough. 
Soldiers,  civilians,  and  women,  who  seemed  to  be  out  unusually 
late,  crowded  round  the  horse,  and  again  I  told  my  stereotyped 
story  of  the  unsuccessful  attempt  to  carry  the  Confederate 
position,  and  the  retreat  to  Centreville  to  await  better  luck 
next  time.  The  soldiers  along-side  me  cheered,  and  those 
next  them  took  it  up  till  it  ran  through  the  whole  line,  and 
must  have  awoke  the  night  owls. 

As  I  passed  Willard's  Hotel  a  little  further  on,  a  clock  —  I 
think  the  only  public  clock  which  strikes  the  hours  in  Washing 
ton  —  tolled  out  the  hour  ;  and  I  supposed,  from  what  the  sentry 
told  me,  though  I  did  not  count  the  strokes,  that  it  was  eleven 
o'clock.  All  the  rooms  in  the  hotel  were  a  blaze  of  light. 
The  pavement  before  the  door  was  crowded,  and  some  mount 
ed  men  and  the  clattering  of  sabres  on  the  pavement  led  me  to 
infer  that  the  escort  of  the  wounded  officer  had  arrived  before 
me.  I  passed  on  to  the  livery-stables,  where  every  one  was 
alive  and  stirring. 

"  I'm  sure,"  said  the  man,  "  I  thought  I'd  never  see  you  nor 
the  horse  back  again.  The  gig  and  the  other  gentleman  has 
been  back  a  long  time.  How  did  he  carry  you  :* " 

"  Oh,  pretty  well ;  what's  his  price  ?  " 

"  Well,  now  that  I  look  at  him,  and  to  you,  it  will  be  100 
dollars  less  than  I  said,  I'm  in  good  heart  to-night." 

u  Why  so  ?  A  number  of  your  horses  and  carriages  have 
not  come  back  yet,  you  tell  me." 

"  Oh,  well,  I'll  get  paid  for  them  some   time  or  another. 
Oh,  such   news !    such    news ! "  said    he,  rubbing    his    hands. 
"  Twenty   thousand  of  them   killed  and  wounded !      Maybe 
they're  not  having  fits  in  the  White  House  to-night ! " 
20* 


466  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

I  walked  to  my  lodging?,  and  just  as  I  turned  the  key  in  the 
door  a  flash  of  light  made  me  pause  for  a  moment,  in  ex 
pectation  of  the  report  of  a  gun  ;  for  I  could  not  help  thinking 
it  quite  possible  that,  somehow  or  another,  the  Confederate 
cavalry  would  try  to  beat  up  the  lines,  but  no  sound  followed. 
It  must  have  been  lightning.  I  walked  up-stairs,  and  saw  a 
most  welcome  supper  ready  on  the  table  —  an  enormous  piece 
of  cheese,  a  sausage  of  unknown  components,  a  knuckle-bone 
of  ham,  and  a  bottle  of  a  very  light  wine  of  France  ;  but  I 
would  not  have  exchanged  that  repast  and  have  waited  half 
an  hour  for  any  banquet  that  Soyer  or  Careme  could  have 
prepared  at  their  best.  Then,  having  pulled  off  my  boots, 
bathed  my  head,  trimmed  candles,  and  lighted  a  pipe,  I  sat 
down  to  write.  I  made  some  feeble  sentences,  but  the  pen 
went  flying  about  the  paper  as  if  the  spirits  were  playing  tricks 
with  it.  When  I  screwed  up  my  utmost  resolution,  the  "y's  " 
would  still  run  into  long  streaks,  and  the  letters  combine  most 
curiously,  and  my  eyes  closed,  and  my  pen  slipped,  and  just  as 
I  was  aroused  from  a  nap,  and  settled  into  a  stern  determina 
tion  to  hold  my  pen  straight,  I  was  interrupted  by  a  messenger 
from  Lord  Lyons,  to  inquire  whether  I  had  returned,  and  if 
so,  to  ask  me  to  go  up  to  the  Legation  and  get  something  to  eat. 
I  explained,  with  my  thanks,  that  I  was  quite  safe,  and  had 
eaten  supper,  and  learned  from  the  servant  that  Mr.  Warre 
and  his  companion  had  arrived  about  two  hours  previously. 
I  resumed  my  seat  once  more,  haunted  by  the  memory  of  the 
Boston  mail,  which  would  be  closed  in  a  few  hours,  and  I  had 
much  to  tell,  although  I  had  not  seen  the  battle.  Again  and 
again  I  woke  up,  but  at  last  the  greatest  conqueror  but  death 
overcame  me,  and  with  my  head  on  the  blotted  paper,  I  fell 
fast  asleep. 


CHAPTER   LI. 

A  runaway  crowd  at  Washington  —  The  army  of  the  Potomac  in  re 
treat —  Mail-day — Want  of  order  and  authority  —  Newspaper 
lies  —  Alarm  at  Washington  —  Confederate  prisoners  —  General 
McClellan  —  M.  Mercier  —  Effects  of  the  defeat  on  Mr.  Seward 
and  the  President  —  McDowell  —  General  Patterson. 

July  22d.  —  I  awoke  from  a  deep  sleep  this  morning,  about 
six  o'clock.  The  rain  was  falling  in  torrents  and  beat  with  a 
dull,  thudding  sound  on  the  leads  outside  my  window  ;  but, 
louder  than  all.  came  a  strange  sound,  as  if  of  the  tread  of 
men,  a  confused  tramp  and  splashing,  and  a  murmuring  of 
voices.  I  got  up  and  ran  to  the  front  room,  the  windows  of 
which  looked  on  the  street,  and  there,  to  my  intense  surprise, 
I  saw  a  steady  stream  of  men  covered  with  mud,  soaked 
through  with  rain,  who  were  pouring  irregularly,  without  any 
semblance  of  order,  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue  towards  the 
Capitol.  A  dense  stream  of  vapor  rose  from  the  multitude  ; 
but  looking  closely  at  the  men,  I  perceived  they  belonged  to 
different  regiments,  New  Yorkers,  Michiganders,  Rhode  Isl 
anders,  Massachusetters,  Minnesotians,  mingled  pellmell  to 
gether.  Many  of  them  were  without  knapsacks,  crossbelts, 
and  firelocks.  Some  had  neither  great-coats  nor  shoes,  others 
were  covered  with  blankets.  Hastily  putting  on  my  clothes, 
I  ran  down-stairs  and  asked  an  "  officer,"  who  was  passing  by, 
a  pale  young  man,  who  looked  exhausted  to  death,  and  who 
had  lost  his  sword,  for  the  empty  sheath  dangled  at  his  side, 
where  the  men  were  coming  from.  "  Where  from  ?  Well, 
sir,  I  guess  we're  all  coming  out  of  Verginny  as  fast  as  we  can, 
and  pretty  well  whipped  too."  "What!  the  whole  army, 
sir  ?  "  "  That's  more  than  I  know.  They  may  stay  that  like. 
I  know  I'm  going  home.  I've  had  enough  of  fighting  to  last 
my  lifetime." 

The  news  seemed  incredible.  But  there,  before  my  eyes,  were 
the  jaded,  dispirited,  broken  remnants  of  regiments  passing  on 
wards  where  and  for  what  I  knew  not,  and  it  was  evident  enough 


468  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

that  the  mass  of  the  grand  army  of  the  Potomac  was  placing 
that  river  between  it  and  the  enemy  as  rapidly  as  possible. 
"  Is  there  any  pursuit  ?  "  I  asked  of  several  men.  Some  were 
too  surly  to  reply  ;  others  said,  "  They're  coming  as  fast  as 
they  can  after  us."  Others,  "  I  guess  they've  stopped  it  now 
—  the  rain  is  too  much  for  them."  A  few  said  they  did  not 
know,  and  looked  as  if  they  did  not  care.  And  here  came 
one  of  these  small  crises  in  which  a  special  correspondent 
would  give  a  good  deal  for  the  least  portion  of  duality  in  mind 
or  body.  A  few  sheets  of  blotted  paper  and  writing  materials 
lying  on  the  table  beside  the  burnt-out  candles,  reminded  me 
that  the  imperious  post-day  was  running  on.  "  The  mail  for 
Europe,  via  Boston,  closes  at  one  o'clock,  Monday,  July  22d," 
stuck  up  in  large  characters,  warned  me  I  had  not  a  moment 
to  lose.  I  knew  the  event  would  be  of  the  utmost  interest  in 
England,  and  that  it  would  be  important  to  tell  the  truth  as 
far  as  I  knew  it,  leaving  the  American  papers  to  state  their 
own  case,  that  the  public  might  form  their  own  conclusions. 

But  then,  I  felt,  how  interesting  it  would  be  to  ride  out  and 
watch  the  evacuation  of  the  sacred  soil  of  Virginia,  to  see 
what  the  enemy  were  doing,  to  examine  the  situation  of  affairs, 
to  hear  what  the  men  said,  and,  above  all,  find  out  the  cause 
of  this  retreat  and  headlong  confusion,  investigate  the  extent 
of  the  Federal  losses  and  the  condition  of  the  wounded ;  in 
fact,  to  find  materials  for  a  dozen  of  letters.  1  would  fain, 
too,  have  seen  General  Scott,  and  heard  his  opinions,  and 
have  visited  the  leading  senators,  to  get  a  notion  of  the  way 
in  which  they  looked  on  this  catastrophe.  —  "I  do  perceive 
here  a  divided  duty."  But  the  more  I  reflected  on  the  mat 
ter  the  more  strongly  I  became  convinced  that  it  would  not 
be  advisable  to  postpone  the  letter,  and  that  the  events  of  the 
21st  ought  to  have  precedence  of  those  of  the  22d,  and  so  I 
stuck  up  my  usual  notice  on  the  door  outside  of  "Mr.  Russell 
is  out,"  and  resumed  my  letter. 

Whilst  the  rain  fell,  the  tramp  of  feet  went  steadily  on. 
As  I  lifted  my  eyes  now  and  then  from  the  paper,  I  saw  the 
beaten,  foot-sore,  spongy-looking  soldiers,  officers,  and  all  the 
debris  of  the  army  filing  through  mud  and  rain,  and  forming 
in  crowds  in  front  of  the  spirit  stores.  Underneath  my  room 
is  the  magazine  of  Jost,  negociant  en  vins,  and  he  drives  a 
roaring  trade  this  morning,  interrupted  occasionally  by  loud 
disputes  as  to  the  score.  When  the  lad  came  in  with  my 
breakfast  he  seemed  a  degree  or  two  lighter  in  color  than 


THE  STREETS   OF  WASHINGTON.  463 

usual.  "  "What's  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  "I  'spects,  Massa, 
the  Seceshers  soon  be  in  here.  I'm  a  free  nigger  ;  I  must  go, 
sar,  afore  de  come  cotch  me."  It  is  rather  pleasant  to  be 
neutral  under  such  circumstances. 

I  speedily  satisfied  myself  I  could  not  finish  my  letter  in 
time  for  post,  and  I  therefore  sent  for  my  respectable  English 
man  to  go  direct  to  Boston  by  the  train  which  leaves  tliis  at 
four  o'clock,  to-morrow  morning,  so  as  to  catch  the  mail  steamer 
on  Wednesday,  and  telegraphed  to  the  agents  there  to  inform 
them  of  my  intention  of  doing  so.  Visitors  came  knocking 
at  the  door,  and  insisted  on  getting  in  —  military  friends  who 
wanted  to  give  me  their  versions  of  the  battle  —  the  attaches 
of  legations  and  others  who  desired  to  hear  the  news  and  have 
a  little  gossip ;  but  I  turned  a  deaf  ear  doorwards,  and  they 
went  off  into  the  outer  rain  again. 

More  draggled,  more  muddy,  and  downhearted,  and  foot- 
weary  and  vapid,  the  great  army  of  the  Potomac  still  strag 
gled  by.  Towards  evening  I  seized  my  hat  and  made  off  to 
the  stable  to  inquire  how  the  poor  horse  was.  There  he  stood, 
nearly  as  fresh  as  ever,  a  little  tucked  up  in  the  ribs,  but 
eating  heartily,  and  perfectly  sound.  A  change  had  come 
over  Mr.  W roe's  dream  of  horseflesh.  "  They'll  be  going 
cheap  now,"  thought  he,  and  so  he  said  aloud,  *'  If  you'd  like 
to  buy  that  horse,  I'd  let  you  have  him  a  little  under  what  I 
said.  Dear !  dear  !  it  must  'a'  been  a  sight  sure-ly  to  see  them 
Yankees  running;  you  can  scarce  get  through  the  Avenue 
with  them." 

And  what  Mr.  TV.  says  is  quite  true.  The  rain  has  abated 
a  little,  and  the  pavements  are  densely  packed  with  men  in 
uniform,  some  with,  others  without  arms,  on  whom  the  shop 
keepers  are  looking  with  evident  alarm.  They  seem  to  be  in 
possession  of  all  the  spirit-houses.  Now  and  then  shots  are 
heard  down  the  street  or  in  the  distance,  and  cries  and  shout 
ing,  as  if  a  scuffle  or  a  difficulty  were  occurring.  Willard's  is 
turned  into  a  barrack  for  officers,  and  presents  such  a  scene 
in  the  hall  as  could  only  be  witnessed  in  a  city  occupied  by  a 
demoralized  army.  There  is  no  provost  guard,  no  patrol,  no 
authority  visible  in  the  streets.  General  Scott  is  quite  over 
whelmed  by  the  affair,  and  is  unable  to  stir.  General  McDow 
ell  has  not  yet  arrived.  The  Secretary  of  War  knows  not 
what  to  do,  Mr.  Lincoln  is  equally  helpless,  and  Mr.  Seward, 
who  retains  some  calmness,  is,  notwithstanding  his  military 
rank  and  military  experience,  without  resource  or  expedient. 


470  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

There  are  a  good  many  troops  hanging  on  about  the  camps 
and  forts  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  it  is  said  ;  but  they 
are  thoroughly  disorganized,  and  will  run  away  if  the  enemy 
comes  in  sight  without  a  shot,  and  then  the  capital  must  fall 
at  once.  Why  Beauregard  does  not  come  I  know  not,  nor 
can  I  well  guess.  I  have  been  expecting  every  hour  since 
noon  to  hear  his  cannon.  Here  is  a  golden  opportunity.  It' 
the  Confederates  do  not  grasp  that  which  will  never  come 
again  on  such  terms,  it  stamps  them  with  mediocrity. 

The  morning  papers  are  quite  ignorant  of  the  defeat,  or 
affect  to  be  unaware  of  it,  arid  declare  yesterday's  battle  to 
have  been  in  favor  of  the  Federals  generally,  the  least  arro 
gant  stating  that  McDowell  will  resume  his  march  from  Cen- 
treville  immediately.  The  evening  papers,  however,  seem  to 
be  more  sensible  of  the  real  nature  of  the  crisis  :  it  is  scarcely 
within  the  reach  of  any  amount  of  impertinence  or  audacious 
assertion  to  deny  what  is  passing  before  their  very  eyes.  The 
grand  army  of  the  Potomac  is  in  the  streets  of  Washington, 
instead  of  being  on  its  way  to  Richmond.  One  paper  contains 
a  statement  which  would  make  me  uneasy  about  myself  if  I 
had  any  confidence  in  these  stories,  for  it  is  asserted  "  that 
Mr.  Russell  was  last  seen  in  the  thick  of  the  fight,  and  has 
not  yet  returned.  Fears  are  entertained  for  his  safety." 

Towards  dark  the  rain  moderated  and  the  noise  in  the 
streets  waxed  louder  ;  all  kinds  of  rumors  respecting  the  ad 
vance  of  the  enemy,  the  annihilation  of  Federal  regiments, 
the  tremendous  losses  on  both  sides,  charges  of  cavalry,  storm- 
ings  of  great  intrenchments  and  stupendous  masked  batteries, 
and  elaborate  reports  of  unparalleled  feats  of  personal  valor, 
were  circulated  under  the  genial  influence  of  excitement,  and 
by  the  quantities  of  alcohol  necessary  to  keep  out  the  influence 
of  the  external  moisture.  I  did  not  hear  one  expression  of 
confidence,  or  see  one  cheerful  face  in  all  that  vast  crowd 
which  but  a  few  days  before  constituted  an  army,  and  was 
now  nothing  better  than  a  semi-armed  mob.  I  could  see  no 
cannon  returning,  and  to  my  inquiries  after  them,  I  got  gen 
erally  the  answer,  "  I  suppose  the  Seceshers  have  got  hold  of 
them." 

Whilst  I  was  at  table  several  gentlemen  who  have  entree 
called  on  me,  who  confirmed  my  impressions  respecting  the 
magnitude  of  the  disaster  that  is  so  rapidly  developing  its  pro 
portions.  They  agree  in  describing  the  army  as  disorganized. 
Washington  is  rendered  almost  untenable,  in  consequence  of 


WRITING  AT  NIGHT.  471 

the  conduct  of  the  army,  which  was  not  only  to  have  defended 
it,  but  to  have  captured  the  rival  capital.  Some  of  my  visitors 
declared  it  was  dangerous  to  move  abroad  in  the  streets. 
Many  think  the  contest  is  now  over ;  but  the  gentlemen  of 
Washington  have  Southern  sympathies,  and  I,  on  the  con 
trary,  am  persuaded  this  prick  in  the  great  Northern  balloon 
will  let  out  a  quantity  of  poisonous  gas,  and  rouse  the  people 
to  a  sense  of  the  nature  of  the  conflict  on  which  they  have 
entered.  The  inmates  of  the  White  House  are  in  a  state  of 
the  utmost  trepidation,  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  sat  in  the  tele 
graph  operator's  room  with  General  Scott  and  Mr.  Seward, 
listening  to  the  despatches  as  they  arrived  from  the  scene  of 
action,  left  it  in  despair  when  the  fatal  words  tripped  from  the 
needle  and  the  defeat  was  already  revealed  to  him. 

Having  finally  cleared  my  room  of  visitors  and  locked  the 
door,  I  sat  down  once  more  to  my  desk,  and  continued  my 
narrative.  The  night  wore  on,  and  the  tumult  still  reigned  in 
the  city.  Once,  indeed,  if  not  twice,  my  attention  was  aroused 
by  sounds  like  distant  cannon  and  outbursts  of  musketry,  but 
on  reflection  I  was  satisfied  the  Confederate  General  would 
never  be  rash  enough  to  attack  the  place  by  night,  and  that, 
after  all  the  rain  which  had  fallen,  he  in  all  probability  would 
give  horses  and  men  a  day's  rest,  marching  them  through  the 
night,  so  as  to  appear  before  the  city  in  the  course  of  to-mor 
row.  Again  and  again  I  was  interrupted  by  soldiers  clamor 
ing  for  drink  and  for  money,  attracted  by  the  light  in  my 
windows  ;  one  or  two  irrepressible  and  irresistible  friends 
actually  succeeded  in  making  their  way  into  my  room  —  just 
as  on  the  night  when  I  was  engaged  in  writing  an  account  of 
the  last  attack  on  the  Redan  my  hut  was  stormed  by  visitors, 
and  much  of  my  letter  was  penned  under  the  apprehension  of 
a  sharp  pair  of  spurs  fixed  in  the  heels  of  a  jolly  little  adju 
tant,  who,  overcome  by  fatigue  and  rum-and-water,  fell  asleep 
in  my  chair,  with  his  legs  cocked  up  on  my  writing-table  — 
but  I  saw  the  last  of  them  about  midnight,  and  so  continued 
writing  till  the  morning  light  began  to  steal  through  the  case 
ment.  Then  came  the  trusty  messenger,  and,  at  three,  A.  M., 
when  I  had  handed  him  the  parcel  and  looked  round  to  see 
all  my  things  were  in  readiness,  lest  a  rapid  toilet  might  be 
necessary  in  the  morning,  with  a  sigh  of  relief  I  plunged  into 
bed,  and  slept. 

July  23d.  —  The  morning  was  far  advanced  when  I  awoke, 
and  hearing  the  roll  of  wagons  in  the  street,  I  at  first  imag- 


472  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

ined  the  Federals  were  actually  about  to  abandon  Washington 
itself;  but  on  going  to  the  window,  I  perceived  it  arose  from 
an  irregular  train  of  commissariat  carts,  country  wagons,  am 
bulances,  and  sutlers'  vans,  in  the  centre  of  the  street,  the 
paths  being  crowded  as  before  with  soldiers,  or  rather  with 
men  in  uniform,  many  of  whom  seemed  as  if  they  had  been 
rolling  in  the  mud.  Poor  General  Mansfield  was  running 
back  and  forwards  between  his  quarters  and  the  War  Depart 
ment,  and  in  the  afternoon  some  efforts  were  made  to  restore 
order,  by  appointing  rendezvous  to  which  the  fragments  of 
regiments  should  repair,  and  by  organizing  mounted  patrols 
to  clear  the  streets.  In  the  middle  of  the  day  I  went  out 
through  the  streets,  and  walked  down  to  the  Long  Bridge  with 
the  intention  of  crossing,  but  it  was  literally  blocked  up  from 
end  to  end  with  a  mass  of  wagons  and  ambulances  full  of 
wounded  men,  whose  cries  of  pain  echoed  above  the  shouts  of 
the  drivers,  so  that  I  abandoned  the  attempt  to  get  across, 
which,  indeed,  would  not  have  been  easy  with  any  comfort, 
owing  to  the  depth  of  mud  in  the  roads.  To-day  the  aspect 
of  Washington  is  more  unseemly  and  disgraceful,  if  that  were 
possible,  than  yesterday  afternoon. 

As  I  returned  towards  my  lodgings  a  scene  of  greater  dis 
order  and  violence  than  usual  attracted  my  attention.  A 
body  of  Confederate  prisoners,  marching  two  and  two,  were 
with  difficulty  saved  by  their  guard  from  the  murderous  as 
saults  of  a  hooting  rabble,  composed  of  civilians  and  men 
dressed  like  soldiers,  who  hurled  all  kinds  of  missiles  they 
could  lay  their  hands  upon  over  the  heads  of  the  guard  at 
their  victims,  spattering  them  with  mud  and  filthy  language. 
It  was  very  gratifying  to  see  the  way  in  which  the  dastardly 
mob  dispersed  at  the  appearance  of  a  squad  of  mounted  men, 
who  charged  them  boldly,  and  escorted  the  prisoners  to  Gen 
eral  Mansfield.  They  consisted  of  a  picket  or  grand  guard, 
which,  unaware  of  the  retreat  of  their  regiment  from  Fairfax, 
marched  into  the  Federal  lines  before  the  battle.  Their  just 
indignation  was  audible  enough.  One  of  them,  afterwards, 
told  General  McDowell,  who  hurried  over  as  soon  as  he  was 
made  aware  of  the  disgraceful  outrages  to  which  they  had 
been  exposed,  "  I  would  have  died  a  hundred  deaths  before  I 
fell  into  these  wretches'  hands,  if  I  had  known  this.  Set  me 
free  for  five  minutes,  and  let  any  two,  or  four,  of  them  insult 
me  when  my  hands  are  loose." 

Soon  afterwards  a  report  Hew  about  that  a  crowd  of  soldiers 


GENERAL  M'CLELLAN.  473 

were  hanging  a  Secessionist.  A  senator  rushed  to  General 
McDowell,  and  told  him  that  he  had  seen  the  man  swinging 
with  his  own  eyes.  Off  went  the  General,  venire  a  terre,  and 
was  considerably  relieved  by  finding  that  they  were  hanging 
merely  a  dummy  or  effigy  of  Jeff  Davis,  not  having  succeeded 
in  getting  at  the  original  yesterday. 

Poor  McDowell  has  been  swiftly  punished  for  his  defeat,  or 
rather  for  the  unhappy  termination  to  his  advance.  As  soon 
as  the  disaster  was  ascertained  beyond  doubt,  the  President 
telegraphed  to  General  McClellan  to  come  and  take  command 
of  his  army.  It  is  a  commentary  full  of  instruction  on  the 
military  system  of  the  Americans,  that  they  have  not  a  soldier 
who  has  ever  handled  a  brigade  in  the  field  fit  for  service  in 
the  North. 

The  new  commander-in-chief  is  a  brevet-major  who  has 
been  in  civil  employ  on  a  railway  for  several  years.  He 
went  once,  with  two  other  West  Point  officers,  commissioned 
by  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  then  Secretary  of  War,  to  examine 
and  report  on  the  operations  in  the  Crimea,  who  were  judi 
ciously  despatched  when  the  war  was  over,  and  I  used  to  see 
him  and  his  companions  poking  about  the  ruins  of  the  de 
serted  trenches  and  batteries,  mounted  on  horses  furnished  by 
the  courtesy  of  British  officers,  just  as  they  lived  in  English 
quarters,  when  they  were  snubbed  and  refused  an  audience 
by  the  Duke  of  Malakhoff  in  the  French  camp.  Major 
McClellan  forgot  the  affront,  did  not  even  mention  it,  and 
showed  his  Christian  spirit  by  praising  the  allies,  and  damn 
ing  John  Bull  with  very  faint  applause,  seasoned  with  lofty 
censure.  He  was  very  young,  however,  at  the  time,  and  is  so 
well  spoken  of  that  his  appointment  will  be  popular;  but  all 
that  he  has  done  to  gain  such  reputation  and  to  earn  the  con 
fidence  of  the  government,  is  to  have  had  some  skirmishes 
with  bands  of  Confederates  in  Western  Virginia,  in  which  the 
leader,  Garnett,  was  killed,  his  "  forces"  routed,  and  finally,  to 
the  number  of  a  thousand,  obliged  to  surrender  as  prisoners  of 
war.  That  success,  however,  at  such  a  time  is  quite  enough 
to  elevate  any  man  to  the  highest  command.  McClellan  is 
about  thirty-six  years  of  age,  was  educated  at  West  Point, 
where  he  was  junior  to  McDowell,  and  a  class-fellow  of  Beau- 
regard. 

I  dined  with  M.  Mercier,  the  French  Minister,  who  has  a 
prettily  situated  house  on  the  heights  of  Georgetown,  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  from  the  city.  Lord  Lyons,  Mr.  Monson,  his 


•=-.-  I'll 


- 


476  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

project  of  turning  it  by  a  movement  which  would  bring  the 
weight  of  his  columns  on  their  extreme  left,  and  at  the  same 
time  overlap  it,  whilst  a  strong  demonstration  was  made  on 
the  ford  at  Bull  Run,  where  General  Tyler  brought  on  the 
serious  skirmish  of  the  18th.  In  order  to  carry  out  this  plan, 
he  had  to  debouch  his  columns  from  a  narrow  point  at  Centre- 
ville,  and  march  them  round  by  various  roads  to  points  on  the 
upper  part  of  the  Run,  where  it  was  fordable  in  all  directions, 
intending  to  turn  the  enemy's  batteries  on  the  lower  roads  and 
bridges.  But  although  he  started  them  at  an  early  hour,  the 
troops  moved  so  slowly  the  Confederates  became  aware  of 
their  design,  and  were  enabled  to  concentrate  considerable 
masses  of  troops  on  their  left. 

The  Federals  were  not  only  slow,  but  disorderly.  The  reg 
iments  in  advance  stopped  at  streams  to  drink  and  fill  their 
canteens,  delaying  the  regiments  in  the  rear.  They  wasted 
their  provisions,  so  that  many  of  them  were  without  food  at 
noon,  when  they  were  exhausted  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and 
by  the  stifling  vapors  of  their  own  dense  columns.  When 
they  at  last  came  into  action  some  divisions  were  not  in  their 
places,  so  that  the  line  of  battle  was  broken  ;  and  those  which 
were  in  their  proper  position  were  exposed,  without  support, 
to  the  enemy's  fire.  A  delusion  of  masked  batteries  pressed 
on  their  brain.  To  this  was  soon  added  a  hallucination  about 
cavalry,  which  might  have  been  cured,  had  the  Federals  pos 
sessed  a  few  steady  squadrons  to  manoeuvre  on  their  flanks 
and  in  the  intervals  of  their  line.  Nevertheless,  they  advanced 
and  encountered  the  enemy's  fire  with  some  spirit ;  but  the 
Confederates  were  enabled  to  move  up  fresh  battalions,  and  to 
a  certain  extent  to  establish  an  equality  between  the  numbers 
of  their  own  troops  and  the  assailants,  whilst  they  had  the  advan 
tages  of  better  cover  and  ground.  An  apparition  of  a  disor 
derly  crowd  of  horsemen  in  front  of  the  much-boasting  Fire 
Zouaves  of  New  York  threw  them  into  confusion  and  flight, 
and  a  battery  which  they  ought  to  have  protected  was  taken. 
Another  battery  was  captured  by  the  mistake  of  an  officer, 
who  allowed  a  Confederate  regiment  to  approach  the  guns, 
thinking  they  were  Federal  troops,  till  their  first  volley  de 
stroyed  both  horses  and  gunners.  At  the  critical  moment, 
General  Johnston,  who  had  escaped  from  the  feeble  observa 
tion  and  untenacious  grip  of  General  Patterson  and  his  time- 
expired  volunteers,  and  had  been  hurrying  down  his  troops 
from  Winchester  by  train,  threw  his  fresh  battalions  on  the 


WASHINGTON  SAFER.  477 

flank  and  rear  of  the  Federal  right.  When  the  General  or 
dered  a  retreat,  rendered  necessary  by  the  failure  of  the 
attack  —  disorder  spread,  which  increased  —  the  retreat  be 
came  a  flight,  which  degenerated  —  if  a  flight  can  degenerate 
—  into  a  panic,  the  moment  the  Confederates  pressed  them 
with  a  few  cavalry  and  horse  artillery.  The  efforts  of  the 
Generals  to  restore  order  and  confidence  were  futile.  Fortu 
nately  a  weak  reserve  was  posted  at  Centreville,  and  these 
were  formed  in  line  on  the  slope  of  the  hill,  whilst  McDowell 
and  his  officers  exerted  themselves  with  indifferent  success  to 
arrest  the  mass  of  the  army,  and  make  them  draw  up  behind 
the  reserve,  telling  the  men  a  bold  front  was  their  sole  chance 
of  safety.  At  midnight  it  became  evident  the  morale  of  the 
army  was  destroyed,  and  nothing  was.  left  but  a  speedy  retro 
grade  movement,  with  the  few  regiments  and  guns  which  were 
in  a  condition  approaching  to  efficiency,  upon  the  defensive 
works  of  Washington. 

Notwithstanding  the  reverse  of  fortune,  McDowell  did  not 
appear  willing  to  admit  his  estimate  of  the  Southern  troops 
was  erroneous,  or  to  say  "  Change  armies,  and  I'll  fight  the 
battle  over  again."  He  still  held  Mississippians,  Alabamians, 
Louisianians,  very  cheap,  and  did  not  see,  or  would  not  con 
fess,  the  full  extent  of  the  calamity  which  had  fallen  so  heavily 
on  him  personally.  The  fact  of  the  evening's  inactivity  was 
conclusive  in  his  mind  that  they  had  a  dearly  bought  success, 
and  he  looked  forward,  though  in  a  subordinate  capacity,  to  a 
speedy  and  glorious  revenge. 

July  2otk.  —  The  unfortunate  General  Patterson,  who  could 
not  keep  Johnston  from  getting  away  from  Winchester,  is  to 
be  dismissed  the  service  —  honorably,  of  course  —  that  is, 
he  is  to  be  punished  because  his  men  would  insist  on  go 
ing  home  in  face  of  the  enemy,  as  soon  as  their  three  months 
were  up,  and  that  time  happened  to  arrive  just  as  it  would  be 
desirable  to  operate  against  the  Confederates.  The  latter  have 
lost  their  chance.  The  Senate,  the  House  of  Representatives, 
the  Cabinet,  the  President,  are  all  at  their  ease  once  more, 
and  feel  secure  in  Washington.  Up  to  this  moment  the  Con 
federates  could  have  taken  it  with  very  little  trouble.  Mary 
land  could  have  been  roused  to  arms,  and  Baltimore  would 
have  declared  for  them.  The  triumph  of  the  non-aggression- 
ists,  at  the  head  of  whom  is  Mr.  Davis,  in  resisting  the  de 
mands  of  the  party  which  urges  an  actual  invasion  of  the 
North  as  the  best  way  of  obtaining  peace,  may  prove  to  be 


478  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

very  disastrous.  Final  material  results  must  have  justified 
the  occupation  of  Washington. 

I  dined  at  the  Legation,  where  were  Mr.  Sumner  and  some 
English  visitors  desirous  of  going  South.  Lord  Lyons  gives 
no  encouragement  to  these  adventurous  persons. 

July  26th.  —  Whether  it  is  from  curiosity  to  hear  what  I 
have  to  say  or  not,  the  number  of  my  visitors  is  augmenting. 
Among  them  was  a  man  in  soldier's  uniform,  who  sauntered 
into  my  room  to  borrow  "  five  or  ten  dollars,"  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  a  waiter  at  the  Clarendon  Hotel  when  I  was  stop 
ping  there,  and  wanted  to  go  North,  as  his  time  was  up.  His 
anecdotes  were  stupendous.  General  Meigs  and  Captain  Ma- 
comb,  of  the  United  States  Engineers,  paid  me  a  visit,  and 
talked  of  the  disaster  very  sensibly.  The  former  is  an  able 
officer,  and  an  accomplished  man  —  the  latter,  son,  I  believe, 
of  the  American  general  of  that  name,  distinguished  in  the 
war  with  Great  Britain.  I  had  a  long  conversation  with 
General  McDowell,  who  bears  his  supersession  with  admirable 
fortitude,  and  complains  of  nothing,  except  the  failure  of  his 
officers  to  obey  orders,  and  the  hard  fate  which  condemned 
him  to  lead  an  army  of  volunteers —  Captain  Wright,  aide-de 
camp  to  General  Scott,  Lieutenant  Wise,  of  the  Navy,  and 
many  others.  The  communications  received  from  the  North 
ern  States  have  restored  the  spirits  of  all  Union  men,  and  not 
a  few  declare  they  are  glad  of  the  reverse,  as  the  North  will 
now  be  obliged  to  put  forth  all  its  strength. 


CHAPTER  LIT. 

Attack  of  illness  —  General  McClcllan — Reception  at  the  White 
House  —  Drunkenness  among  the  Volunteers  —  Visit  from  Mr. 
Olrnsted — Georgetown  —  Intense  Heat  —  McClellan  and  the 
Newspapers  —  Reception  at  Mr.  Seward's —  Alexandria — A 
Storm  —  Sudden  Death  of  an  English  Officer — The  Maryland 
Club  —  A  Prayer  and  Fast  Day  —  Financial  Difficulties. 

July  27th.  —  So  ill  to-day  from  heat,  bad  smells  in  the 
house,  and  fatigue,  that  J  sent  for  Dr.  Miller,  a  great,  fine 
Virginian  practitioner,  who  ordered  me  powders  to  be  taken 
in  "  mint-juleps."  Now  mint-juleps  are  made  of  whiskey, 
sugar,  ice,  very  little  water,  and  sprigs  of  fresh  mint,  to  be 
sucked  up  after  the  manner  of  sherry-cobblers,  if  so  it  be 
pleased,  with  a  straw. 

"  A  powder  every  two  hours,  with  a  mint-julep.  Why, 
that's  six  a  day.  Doctor.  AYon't  that  be  —  eh  ?  —  won't  that 
be  rather  intoxicating  ?  " 

"Well,  sir,  that  depends  on  the  constitution.  You'll  find 
they  will  do  you  no  harm,  even  if  the  worst  takes  place." 

Day  after  day,  till  the  month  was  over  and  August  had 
come,  I  passed  in  a  state  of  powder  and  julep,  which  the  Vir 
ginian  doctor  declared  saved  my  life.  The  first  time  I  stirred 
out  the  change  which  had  taken  place  in  the  streets  was  at 
once  apparent :  no  drunken  rabblement  of  armed  men,  no  beg 
ging  soldiers  —  instead  of  these  were  patrols  in  the  streets, 
guards  at  the  corners,  and  a  rigid  system  of  passes.  The 
North  begin  to  perceive  their  magnificent  armies  are  mythi 
cal,  but  knowing  they  have  the  elements  of  making  one,  they 
are  setting  about  the  manufacture.  Numbers  of  tapsters  and 
serving  men,  and  canaille  from  the  cities,  who  now  disgrace 
swords  and  shoulder-straps,  are  to  be  dismissed.  Round  the 
corner,  with  a  kind  of  staff*  at  his  heels  and  an  escort,  comes 
Major- General  George  B.  McClellan,  the  young  Napoleon 
(of  Western  Virginia),  the  conqueror  of  Garnett,  the  captor 
of  Peagrim,  the  commander-in-chief,  under  the  President,  of 
the  army  of  the  United  States.  He  is  a  very  squarely-built, 


480  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

thick-throated,  broad-chested  man,  under  the  middle  height, 
with  slightly  bowed  legs,  a  tendency  to  embonpoint.  His  head, 
covered  with  a  closely  cut  crop  of  dark  auburn  hair,  is  well 
set  on  his  shoulders.  His  features  are  regular  and  prepos 
sessing  —  the  brow  small,  contracted,  and  furrowed  ;  the  eyes 
deep  and  anxious-looking.  A  short,  thick,  reddish  mustache 
conceals  his  mouth  ;  the  rest  of  his  face  is  clean  shaven.  He 
has  made  his  father-in-law,  Major  Marcy,  chief  of  his  staff, 
and  is  a  good  deal  influenced  by  his  opinions,  which  are  enti 
tled  to  some  weight,  as  Major  Marcy  is  a  soldier,  and  has  seen 
frontier  wars,  and  is  a  great  traveller.  The  task  of  licking 
this  army  into  shape  is  of  Herculean  magnitude.  Every  one, 
however,  is  willing  to  do  as  he  bids  :  the  President  confides 
in  him,  and  "  Georges  "  him  ;  the  press  fawn  upon  him,  the 
people  trust  him  ;  he  is  "  the  little  corporal  "  of  unfought  fields 
—  omnis  ignotus  pro  mirifico,  here.  He  looks  like  a  stout 
little  captain  of  dragoons,  but  for  his  American  seat  and  sad 
dle.  The  latter  is  adapted  to  a  man  who  cannot  ride :  if  a 
squadron  so  mounted  were  to  attempt  a  fence  or  ditch  half  of 
them  would  be  ruptured  or  spilled.  The  seat  is  a  marvel  to 
any  European.  But  McClellan  is  nevertheless  "  the  man  on 
horseback  "  just  now,  and  the  Americans  must  ride  in  his 
saddle,  or  in  anything  he  likes. 

In  the  evening  of  my  first  day's  release  from  juleps  the 
President  held  a  reception  or  levee,  and  I  went  to  the  White 
House  about  nine  o'clock,  when  the  rooms  were  at  their  fullest. 
The  company  were  arriving  on  foot,  or  crammed  in  hackney 
coaches,  and  did  not  affect  any  neatness  of  attire  or  evening 
dress.  The  doors  were  open:  any  one  could  walk  in  who 
chose.  Private  soldiers,  in  hodden  gray  and  hobnailed  shoes, 
stood  timorously  chewing  on  the  threshold  of  the  state  apart 
ments,  alarmed  at  the  lights  and  gilding,  or,  haply,  by  the 
marabout  feathers  and  finery  of  a  few  ladies  who  were  in  ball 
costume,  till,  assured  by  fellow-citizens  there  was  nothing  to 
fear,  they  plunged  into  the  dreadful  revelry.  Faces  familiar  to 
me  in  the  magazines  of  the  town  were  visible  in  the  crowd 
which  filled  the  reception  rooms  and  the  ball-room,  in  a  small 
room  off  which  a  military  band  was  stationed. 

The  President,  in  a  suit  of  black,  stood  near  the  door  of  one 
of  the  rooms  near  the  hall,  and  shook  hands  with  every  one  of 
the  crowd,  who  was  then  "  passed  "  on  by  his  secretary,  if  the 
President  didn't  wish  to  speak  to  him.  Mr.  Lincoln  has  recov 
ered  his  spirits,  and  seemed  in  good  humor.  Mrs.  Lincoln, 


OVATIONS  FOR  BULL  RUN.  481 

•who  did  the  honors  in  another  room,  surrounded  by  a  few  la 
dies,  did  not  appear  to  be  quite  so  contented.  All  the  Ministers 
are  present  except  Mr.  Seward,  who  has  gone  to  his  own  State 
to  ascertain  the  frame  of  mind  of  the  people,  and  to  judge  for 
himself  of  the  sentiments  they  entertain  respecting  the  war. 
At'ter  walking  up  and  down  the  hot  and  crowded  rooms  for  an 
hour,  and  seeing  and  speaking  to  all  the  celebrities.  I  withdrew. 
Colonel  Richardson  in  his  official  report  states  Colonel  Miles 
lost  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  by  being  drunk  and  disorderly  at  a 
critical  moment.  Colonel  Miles,  who  commanded  a  division  of 
three  brigades,  writes  to  say  he  was  not  in  any  such  state,  and 
has  demanded  a  court  of  inquiry.  In  a  Philadelphia  paper  it 
is  stated  McDowell  was  helplessly  drunk  during  the  action,  and 
sat  up  all  the  night  before  drinking,  smoking,  and  playing 
cards.  McDowell  never  drinks,  and  never  has  drunk,  wine, 
spirits,  malt,  tea,  or  coffee,  or  smoked  or  used  tobacco  in  any 
form,  nor  does  he  play  cards;  and  that  remark  does  not  apply 
to  many  other  Federal  officers. 

Drunkenness  is  only  too  common  among  the  American  vol 
unteers,  and  General  Butler  has  put  it  officially  in  orders,  that 
"  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  prevails  to  an  alarming  extent 
among  the  officers  of  his  command,"  and  has  ordered  the  seiz 
ure  of  their  grog,  which  will  only  be  allowed  on  medical  certif 
icate.  He  announces,  too,  that  he  will  not  use  wine  or  spirits, 
or  give  any  to  his  friends,  or  allow  any  in  his  own  quarters  in 
future  —  a  quaint,  vigorous  creature,  this  Massachusetts  law 
yer. 

The  outcry  against  Patterson  has  not  yet  subsided,  though 
he  states  that,  out  of  twenty-three  regiments  composing  his 
force,  nineteen  refused  to  stay  an  hour  over  their  time,  which 
would  have  been  up  in  a  week,  so  that  he  would  have  been  left 
in  an  enemy's  country  with  four  regiments.  He  wisely  led  his 
patriot  band  back,  and  let  them  disband  themselves  in  their 
own  borders.  Verily,  these  are  not  the  men  to  conquer  the 
South. 

Fresh  volunteers  are  pouring  in  by  tens  of  thousands  to 
take  their  places  from,  all  parts  of  the  Union,  and  in  three  days 
after  the  battle,  80,000  men  were  accepted.  Strange  people  ! 
The  regiments  which  have  returned  to  New  York  after  dis 
graceful  conduct  at  Bull  Run,  with  the  stigmata  of  cowardice 
impressed  by  their  commanding  officers  on  the  colors  and  souls 
of  their  corps,  are  actually  welcomed  with  the  utmost  enthu 
siasm,  and  receive  popular  ovations !  It  becomes  obvious 
21 


482  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

every  clay  that  McClellan  does  not  intend  to  advance  till  he  has 
got  some  semblance  of  an  army :  that  will  be  a  long  time  to 
come  ;  but  he  can  get  a  good  deal  of  fighting  out  of  them  in  a 
few  months.  Meantime  the  whole  of  the  Northern  States  are 
waiting  anxiously  for  the  advance  which  is  to  take  place  at 
once,  according  to  promises  from  New  York.  As  Washington 
is  the  principal  scene  of  interest,  the  South  being  tabooed  to 
me,  I  have  resolved  to  stay  here  till  the  army  is  fit  to  move, 
making  little  excursions  to  points  of  interest.  The  details  in 
my  diary  are  not  very  interesting,  and  I  shall  make  but  brief 
extracts. 

August  %d.  —  Mr.  Olmsted  visited  me,  in  company  with  a 
young  gentleman  named  Ritchie,  son-in-law  of  James  Wads- 
worth,  who  has  been  serving  as  honorary  aide-de-camp  on 
McDowell's  staff,  but  is  now  called  to  higher  functions.  They 
dined  at  my  lodgings,  and  we  talked  over  Bull  Run  again. 
Mr.  Ritchie  did  not  leave  Centreville  till  late  in  the  evening, 
and  slept  at  Fairfax  Court  House,  where  he  remained  till  8-30, 
A.  M.,  on  the  morning  of  July  22d,  Wadsworth  not  stirring  for 
two  hours  later.  He  said  the  panic  was  "  horrible,  disgusting, 
sickening,"  and  spoke  in  the  harshest  terms  of  the  officers,  to 
whom  he  applied  a  variety  of  epithets.  Prince  Napoleon  has 
arrived. 

August  3d.  —  McClellan  orders  regular  parades  and  drills 
in  every  regiment,  and  insists  on  all  orders  being  given  by 
bugle  note.  I  had  a  long  ride  through  the  camps,  and  saw 
some  improvement  in  the  look  of  the  men.  Coming  home  by 
Georgetown,  met  the  Prince  driving  with  M.  Mercier,  to  pay 
a  visit  to  the  President.  I  am  sure  that  the  politicians  are 
not  quite  well  pleased  with  this  arrival,  because  they  do  not 
understand  it,  and  cannot  imagine  a  man  would  come  so  far 
without  a  purpose.  The  drunken  soldiers  now  resort  to  quiet 
lanes  and  courts  in  the  suburbs.  Georgetown  was  full  of  them. 
It  is  a  much  more  respectable  and  old-world  looking  place ' 
than  its  vulgar,  empty,  overgrown,  mushroom  neighbor,  Wash 
ington.  An  officer  who  had  fallen  in  his  men  to  go  on  duty 
was  walking  down  the  line  this  evening  when  his  eye  rested 
on  the  neck  of  a  bottle  sticking  out  of  a  man's  coat.  "  Thun 
der,"  quoth  he,  "  James,  what  have  you  got  there  ?  "  "  Well, 
I  guess,  Captain,  it's  a  drop  of  real  good  Bourbon."  "  Then 
let  us  have  a  drink,"  said  the  captain  ;  and  thereupon  pro 
ceeded  to  take  a  long  pull  and  a  strong  pull,  till  the  man  cried 
out,  "  That  is  not  fair,  Captain.  You  won't  leave  me  a  drop  " 


MILITARY  ADVENTURERS.  483 

—  a  remonstrance  which  had  a  proper  effect,  and  the  captain 
marched  down  his  company  to  the  bridge. 

It  was  extremely  hot  when  I  returned,  late  in  the  evening. 
I  asked  the  boy  for  a  glass  of  iced  water.  "  Dere  is  no  ice, 
Massa,"  he  said.  "No  ice?  What's  the  reason  of  that?" 
"  De  Sechessers,  Massa,  block  up  de  river,  and  touch  off  deir 
guns  at  de  ice-boats."  The  Confederates  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Potomac  have  now  established  a  close  blockade  of  the  river. 
Lieutenant  Wise,  of  the  Navy  Department,  admitted  the  fact, 
but  said  that  the  United  States  gunboats  would  soon  sweep  the 
rebels  from  the  shore. 

August  kth.  —  I  had  no  idea  that  the  sun  could  be  powerful 
in  Washington  ;  even  in  India  the  heat  is  not  much  more  op 
pressive  than  it  was  here  to-day.  There  is  this  extenuating 
circumstance,  however,  that  after  some  hours  of  such  very  high 
temperature,  thunder-storms  and  tornadoes  cool  the  air.  I  re 
ceived  a  message  from  General  McClellan,  that  he  was  about 
to  ride  along  the  lines  of  the  array  across  the  river,  and  would 
be  happy  if  I  accompanied  him ;  but  as  I  had  many  letters  to 
write  for  the  next  mail,  I  was  unwillingly  obliged  to  abandon 
the  chance  of  seeing  the  army  under  such  favorable  circum 
stances.  There  are  daily  arrivals  at  Washington  of  military 
adventurers  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  some  of  them  with 
many  extraordinary  certificates  and  qualifications  ;  but,  as  Mr. 
Seward  says,  "It  is  best  to  detain  them  with  the  hope  of  em 
ployment  on  the  Northern  side,  lest  some  legally  good  man 
should  get  among  the  rebels."  Garibaldians,  Hungarians, 
Poles,  officers  of  Turkish  and  other  contingents,  the  executory 
devises  and  remainders  of  European  revolutions  and  wars,  sur 
round  the  State  Department,  and  infest  unsuspecting  politicians 
with  illegible  testimonials  in  unknown  tongues. 

August  5th.  —  The  roads  from  the  station  are  crowded  with 
troops,  coming  from  the  North  as  fast  as  the  railway  can  car 
ry  them.  It  is  evident,  as  the  war  fever  spreads,  that  such 
politicians,  as  Mr.  Oittenden,  who  resist  the  extreme  violence 
of  the  Republican  party,  will  be  stricken  down.  The  Confis 
cation  Bill,  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves  and  the  absorption 
of  property  belonging  to  rebels,  has,  indeed,  been  boldly  re 
sisted  in  the  House  of  Representatives  ;  but  it  passed  Avith 
some  trifling  amendments.  The  journals  are  still  busy  with 
the  affair  of  Bull  Run,  and  each  seems  anxious  to  eclipse  the 
other  in  the  absurdity  of  its  statements.  A  Philadelphia  jour 
nal,  for  instance,  states  to-day  that  the  real  cause  of  the  disas- 


484  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

ter  was  not  a  desire  to  retreat,  but  a  mania  to  advance.  In 
its  own  words,  "  the  only  drawback  was  the  impetuous  feeling 
to  go  ahead  and  fight.  Because  one  officer  is  accused  of 
drunkenness  a  great  movement  is  on  foot  to  prevent  the  army 
getting  any  drink  at  all. 

General  McClellan  invited  the  newspaper  correspondents  in 
Washington  to  meet  him  to-day,  and  with  their  assent  drew  up 
a  treaty  of  peace  and  amity,  which  is  a  curiosity  in  its  way. 
In  the  first  place,  the  editors  are  to  abstain  from  printing  any 
thing  which  can  give  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemy,  and  their 
correspondents  are  to  observe  equal  caution  ;  in  return  for 
which  complaisance,  Government  is  to  be  asked  to  give  the 
press  opportunities  for  obtaining  and  transmitting  intelligence 
suitable  for  publication,  particularly  touching  engagements 
with  the  enemy.  The  Confederate  privateer  Sumter  has 
forced  the  blockade  at  New  Orleans,  and  has  already  been 
heard  of  destroying  a  number  of  Union  vessels. 

August  Qth.  —  Prince  Napoleon,  anxious  to  visit  the  battle 
field  at  Bull  Run,  has,  to  Mr.  Seward's  discomfiture,  applied 
for  passes,  and  arrangements  are  being  made  to  escort  him  as 
far  as  the  Confederate  lines.  This  is  a  recognition  of  the 
Confederates,  as  a  belligerent  power,  which  is  by  no  means 
agreeable  to  the  authorities.  I  drove  down  to  the  Senate, 
where  the  proceedings  were  very  uninteresting,  although  Con 
gress  was  on  the  eve  of  adjournment,  and  returning  visited 
Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Bates,  Mr.  Cameron,  Mr.  Blair,  and  left 
cards  for  Mr.  Breckinridge.  The  old  woman  who  opened  the 
door  at  the  house  where  the  latter  lodged  said,  "  Massa  Breck 
inridge  pack  up  all  his  boxes  ;  I  s'pose  he  not  cum  back  here 
again." 

August  1th.  —  In  the  evening  I  went  to  Mr.  Seward's,  who 
gave  a  reception  in  honor  of  Prince  Napoleon.  The  Minis 
ter's  rooms  were  crowded  and  intensely  hot.  Lord  Lyons 
and  most  of  the  diplomatic  circle  were  present.  The  Prince 
wore  his  Order  of  the  Bath,  and  bore  the  onslaughts  of  poli 
ticians,  male  and  female,  with  much  good-humor.  The  con 
trast  between  the  uniforms  of  the  officers  of  the  United  States 
army  and  navy  and  those  of  the  French  in  the  Prince's  suit, 
by  no  means  redounded  to  the  credit  of  the  military  tailoring 
of  the  Americans.  The  Prince,  to  whom  I  was  presented  by 
Mr.  Seward,  asked  me  particularly  about  the  roads  from  Alex 
andria  to  Fairfax  Court  House,  and  from  there  to  Centreville 
and  Manassas.  I  told  him  I  had  not  got  quite  as  far  as  the 


VISIT  TO  THE  HOSPITALS.  485 

latter  place,  at  which  he  laughed.  He  inquired  with  much 
interest  about  General  Beauregard,  whether  he  spoke  good 
French,  if  he  seemed  a  man  of  capacity,  or  was  the  creation 
of  an  accident  and  of  circumstances.  He  has  been  to  Mount 
"Vernon,  and  is  struck  with  the  air  of  neglect  around  the 
place.  Two  of  his  horses  dropped  dead  from  the  heat  on  the 
journey,  and  the  Prince,  who  was  perspiring  profusely  in  the 
crowded  room,  asked  me  whether  the  climate  was  not  as  bad 
as  midsummer  in  India.  His  manner  was  perfectly  easy,  but 
he  gave  no  encouragement  to  bores,  nor  did.  he  court  popular 
ity  by  unusual  affability,  and  he  moved  off  long  before  the 
guests  were  tired  of  looking  at  him.  On  returning  to  my 
rooms  a  German  gentleman  named  Bing  —  who  went  out 
with  the  Federal  army  from  Washington,  was  taken  prisoner 
at  Bull  Run,  and  carried  to  Richmond  —  came  to  visit  me, 
but  his  account  of  what  he  saw  in  the  dark  and  mysterious 
South  was  not  lucid  or  interesting. 

August  8th.  —  I  had  arranged  to  go  with  Mr.  Olmsted  and 
Mr.  Ritchie  to  visit  the  hospitals,  but  the  heat  was  so  intoler 
able,  we  abandoned  the  idea  till  afternoon,  when  we  drove 
across  the  Long  Bridge  and  proceeded  to  Alexandria.  The 
town,  which  is  now  fully  occupied  by  military,  and  is  aban 
doned  by  the  respectable  inhabitants,  has  an  air,  owing  to  the 
absence  of  women  and  children,  which  tells  the  tale  of  a  hos 
tile  occupation.  In  a  large  building,  which  had  once  been  a 
school,  the  wounded  of  Bull  Run  were  lying,  not  uncomfort 
ably  packed,  nor  unskilfully  cared  for,  and  the  arrangements 
were,  taken  altogether,  creditable  to  the  skill  and  humanity  of 
the  surgeons.  Close  at  hand  was  the  church  in  which  George 
Washington  was  wont  in  latter  days  to  pray,  when  he  drove 
over  from  Mount  Vernon  —  further  on,  Marshall  House, where 
Ellsworth  was  shot  by  the  Virginian  landlord,  and  was  so 
speedily  avenged.  A  strange  strain  of  thought  was  suggested, 
by  the  rapid  grouping  of  incongruous  ideas,  arising  out  of  the 
proximity  of  these  scenes.  As  one  of  my  friends  said,  "  I 
wonder  what  Washington  would  do  if  he  were  here  now  — 
and  how  he  would  act  if  he  were  summoned  from  that  church 
to  Marshall  House  or  to  this  hospital  ? "  The  man  who  ut 
tered  these  words  was  not  either  of  my  companions,  but  wore 
the  shoulder-straps  of  a  Union  officer.  "  Stranger  still,"  said 
I,  "  would  it  be  to  speculate  on  the  thoughts  and  actions  of 
Napoleon  in  this  crisis,  if  he  were  to  wake  up  and  see  a  Prince 
of  his  blood  escorted  by  Federal  soldiers  to  the  spot  where 


486  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

the  troops  of  the  Southern  States  had  inflicted  on  them  a  sig 
nal  defeat,  in  a  land  where  the  nephew  who  now  sits  on  the 
throne  of  France  has  been  an  exile."  It  is  not  quite  certain 
that  many  Americans  understand  who  Prince  Napoleon  is,  for 
one  of  the  troopers  belonging  to  the  escort  which  took  him 
out  from  Alexandria  declared  positively  he  had  ridden  with 
the  Emperor.  The  excursion  is  swallowed,  but  not  well-di 
gested.  In  Washington  the  only  news  to-night  is,  that  a  small 
privateer  from  Charleston,  mistaking  the  St.  Lawrence  for  a 
merchant  vessel,  fired  into  her,  and  was  at  once  sent  to  Mr. 
Davy  Jones  by  a  rattling  broadside.  Congress  having  ad 
journed,  there  is  but  little  to  render  Washington  less  uninter 
esting  than  it  must  be  in  its  normal  state. 

The  truculent  and  overbearing  spirit  which  arises  from  the 
uncontroverted  action  of  democratic  majorities  develops  itself 
in  the  North,  where  they  have  taken  to  burning  newspaper 
offices  and  destroying  all  the  property  belonging  to  the  pro 
prietors  and  editors.  These  actions  are  a  strange  commen 
tary  on  Mr.  Seward's  declaration  "  that  no  volunteers  are  to 
be  refused  because  they  do  not  speak  English,  inasmuch  as 
the  contest  for  the  Union  is  a  battle  of  the  freemen  of  the 
world  for  the  institutions  of  self-government." 

August  llth.  — On  the  old  Indian  principle,  I  rode  out  this 
morning  very  early,  and  was  rewarded  by  a  breath  of  cold, 
fresh  air,  and  by  the  sight  of  some  very  disorderly  regiments 
just  turning  out  to  parade  in  the  camps  ;  but  I  was  not  par 
ticularly  gratified  by  being  mistaken  for  Prince  Napoleon  by 
some  Irish  recruits,  who  shouted  out,  "  Bonaparte  forever," 
and  gradually  subsided  into  requests  for  "  something  to  drink 
your  Royal  Highness's  health  with."  As  I  returned  I  saw 
on  the  steps  of  General  Mansfield's  quarters,  a  tall,  soldierly- 
looking  young  man,  whose  breast  was  covered  with  Crimean 
ribbons  and  medals,  and  I  recognized  him  as  one  who  had 
called  upon  me  a  few  days  before,  renewing  our  slight  ac 
quaintance  before  Sebastopol,  where  his  courage  was  con 
spicuous,  to  ask  me  for  information  respecting  the  mode  of 
obtaining  a  commission  in  the  Federal  army. 

Towards  mid-day  an  ebony  sheet  of  clouds  swept  over  the 
city.  I  went  out,  regardless  of  the  threatening  storm,  to  avail 
myself  of  the  coolness  to  make  a  few  visits  ;  but  soon  a  vio 
lent  wind  arose  bearing  clouds  like  those  of  an  Indian  dust- 
storm  down  the  streets.  The  black  sheet  overhead  became 
agitated  like  the  sea,  and  tossed  about  gray  clouds,  which 


DEATH  OF  A  CRIMEAN.  487 

careered  against  each  other  and  burst  into  lightning ;  then 
suddenly,  without  other  warning,  down  came  the  rain  —  a 
perfect  tornado  ;  sheets  of  water  flooding  the  streets  in  a  mo 
ment,  turning  the  bed  into  watercourses  and  the  channels  into 
deep  rivers.  I  waded  up  the  centre  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
past  the  President's  house,  in  a  current  which  would  have 
made  a  respectable  trout-stream  ;  and  on  getting  opposite  my 
own  door,  made  a  rush  for  the  porch,  but  forgetting  the  deep 
channel  at  the  side,  stepped  into  a  rivulet  which  was  literally 
above  my  hips,  and  I  was  carried  off  my  legs,  till  I  succeeded 
in  catching  the  curbstone,  and  escaped  into  the  hall  as  if  I 
had  just  swam  across  the  Potomac. 

On  returning  from  my  ride  next  morning,  I  took  up  the  Bal 
timore  paper,  and  saw  a  paragraph  announcing  the  death  of 
an  English  officer  at  the  station ;  it  was  the  poor  fellow  whom 
I  saw  sitting  at  General  Mansfield's  steps  yesterday.  The 
consul  was  absent  on  a  short  tour  rendered  necessary  by  the 
failure  of  his  health  consequent  on  the  discharge  of  his  duties. 
Finding  the  Legation  were  anxious  to  see  due  care  taken  of 
the  poor  fellow's  remains,  I  left  for  Baltimore  at  a  quarter  to 
three  o'clock,  and  proceeded  to  inquire  into  the  circumstances 
connected  with  his  death.  He  had  been  struck  down  at  the 
station  by  some  cerebral  attack,  brought  on  by  the  heat  and 
excitement ;  had  been  carried  to  the  police  station  and  placed 
upon  a  bench,  from  which  he  had  fallen  with  his  head  down 
wards,  and  was  found  in  that  position,  with  life  quite  extinct, 
by  a  casual  visitor.  My  astonishment  may  be  conceived  when 
I  learned  that  not  only  had  the  Coroner's  inquest  sat  and  re 
turned  its  verdict,  but  that  the  man  had  absolutely  been  buried 
the  same  morning,  and  so  my  mission  wras  over,  and  I  could 
only  report  what  had  occurred  to  Washington.  Little  value 
indeed  has  human  life  in  this  new  world,  to  which  the  old 
gives  vital  power  so  lavishly,  that  it  is  regarded  as  almost 
worthless.  I  have  seen  more  "  fuss  "  made  over  an  old  wom 
an  killed  by  a  cab  in  London  than  there  is  over  half  a  dozen 
deaths  with  suspicion  of  murder  attached  in  New  Orleans  or 
New  York. 

I  remained  in  Baltimore  a  few  days,  and  had  an  opportu 
nity  of  knowing  the  feelings  of  some  of  the  leading  men  in 
the  place.  It  may  be  described  in  one  word  —  intense  hatred 
of  New  England  and  Black  Republicans,  which  has  been  in 
creased  to  mania  by  the  stringent  measures  of  the  military 
dictator  of  the  American  Warsaw,  the  searches  of  private 


488  MY  DIARY   NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

houses,  domiciliary  visits,  arbitrary  arrests,  the  suppression  of 
adverse  journals,  the  overthrow  of  the  corporate  body  —  all 
the  acts,  in  fact,  which  constitute  the  machinery  and  the  griev 
ances  of  a  tyranny.  When  I  spoke  of  the  brutal  indifference 
of  the  police  to  the  poor  officer  previously  mentioned,  the  Bal- 
timoreans  told  me  the  constables  appointed  by  the  Federal 
general  were  scoundrels  who  led  the  Plug  Uglies  in  former 
days,  —  the  worst  characters  in  a  city  not  sweet  or  savory  in 
repute,  —  but  that  the  old  police  were  men  of  very  different 
description.  The  Maryland  Club,  where  I  had  spent  some 
pleasant  hours,  was  now  like  a  secret  tribunal  or  the  haunt  of 
conspirators.  The  police  entered  it  a  few  days  ago,  searched 
every  room,  took  up  the  flooring,  and  even  turned  up  the  coals 
in  the  kitchen  and  the  wine  in  the  cellar.  Such  indignities 
fired  the  blood  of  the  members,  who  are,  with  one  exception, 
opposed  to  the  attempt  to  coerce  the  South  by  the  sword. 
Not  one  of  them  but  could  tell  of  some  outrage  perpetrated 
on  himself  or  on  some  members  of  his  family  by"  the  police 
and  Federal  authority.  Many  a  delator  amid  was  suspected 
but  not  convicted.  Men  sat  moodily  reading  the  papers  with 
knitted  brows,  or  whispering  in  corners,  taking  each  other 
apart,  and  glancing  suspiciously  at  their  fellows. 

There  is  a  peculiar  stamp  about  the  Baltimore  men  which 
distinguishes  them  from  most  Americans  —  a  style  of  dress, 
frankness  of  manner,  and  a  general  appearance  assimilating 
them  closely  to  the  upper  classes  of  Englishmen.  They  are 
fond  of  sport  and  travel,  exclusive  and  high-spirited,  and  the 
iron  rule  of  the  Yankee  is  the  more  intolerable  because  they 
dare  not  resent  it,  and  are  unable  to  shake  it  off. 

I  returned  to  Washington  on  15th  August.  Nothing 
changed  ;  skirmishes  "along  the  front ;  McClellan  reviewing. 
The  loss  of  General  Lyon,  who  was  killed  in  an  action  with 
the  Confederates  under  Ben  McCullough,  at  Wilson's  Creek, 
Springfield,  Missouri,  in  which  the  Unionists  were  with  diffi 
culty  extricated  by  General  Sigel  from  a  very  dangerous  posi 
tion,  after  the  death  of  their  leader,  is  severely  felt.  He  was 
one  of  the  very  few  officers  who  combined  military  skill  and 
personal  bravery  with  political  sagacity  and  moral  firmness. 
The  President  has  issued  his  proclamation  for  a  day  of  fast 
and  prayer,  which,  say  the  Baltirnoreans,  is  a  sign  that  the 
Yankees  are  in  a  bad  way,  as  they  would  never  think  of  pray 
ing  or  fasting  if  their  cause  was  prospering.  The  stories 
which  have  been  so  sedulously  spread,  and  which  never  will 


MR.  SEWARD   ON  THE  WAR.  489 

be  quite  discredited,  of  the  barbarity  and  cruelty  of  the  Con 
federates  to  all  the  wounded,  ought  to  be  set  at  rest  by  the 
printed  statement  of  the  eleven  Union  surgeons  just  released, 
who  have  come  back  from  Richmond,  where  they  were  sent 
after  their  capture  on  the  field  of  Bull  Run,  with  the  most 
distinct  testimony  that  the  Confederates  treated  their  prisoners 
with  humanity.  Who  are  the  miscreants  who  tried  to  make 
the  evil  feeling,  quite  strong  enough  as  it  is,  perfectly  fiendish, 
by  asserting  the  rebels  burned  the  wounded  in  hospitals,  and 
bayoneted  them  as  they  lay  helpless  on  the  field  ? 

The  pecuniar}'  difficulties  of  the  Government  have  been 
alleviated  by  the  bankers  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
Boston,  who  have  agreed  to  lend  them  fifty  millions  of  dollars, 
on  condition  that  they  receive  the  Treasury  notes  which  Mr. 
Chase  is  about  to  issue.  As  we  read  the  papers  and  hear  the 
news,  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  foundations  of  society 
are  not  melting  away  in  the  heat  of  this  conflict.  Thus,  a 
Federal  judge,  named  Garrison,  who  has  issued  his  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  for  certain  prisoners  in  Fort  Lafayette,  being 
quietly  snuffed  out  by  the  commandant,  Colonel  Burke,  desires 
to  lead  an  army  against  the  fort,  and  have  a  little  civil  war  of 
his  own  in  New  York.  He  applies  to  the  commander  of  the 
county  militia,  who  informs  Garrison  he  can't  get  into  the  fort 
as  there  was  no  artillery  strong  enough  to  breach  the  walls, 
and  that  it  would  require  10,000  men  to  invest  it,  whereas 
only  1400  militiamen  were  available.  What  a  farceur  Judge 
Garrison  must  be  !  In  addition  to  the  gutting  and  burning  of 
newspaper  offices,  and  the  exercitation  of  the  editors  on  rails, 
the  Republican  grand  juries  have  taken  to  indicting  the  Demo 
cratic  journals,  and  Fremont's  provost  marshal  in  St.  Louis 
has,  proprio  motu  suppressed  those  which  he  considers  disaf 
fected.  A  mutiny  which  broke  out  in  the  Scotch  Regiment, 
Seventy-Ninth  N.  Y.,  has  been  followed  by  another  in  the 
Second  Maine  Regiment,  and  a  display  of  cannon  and  of  cav 
alry  was  required  to  induce  them  to  allow  the  ringleaders  to 
he  arrested.  The  President  was  greatly  alarmed,  but  McClel- 
lan  acted  with  some  vigor,  and  the  refractory  volunteers  are  to 
be  sent  off  to  a  pleasant  station  called  the  "  Dry  Tortugas  "  to 
work  on  the  fortifications. 

Mr.  Seward,  with  whom  I  dined  and  spent  the  evening  on 

the    16th  August,  has  been  much  reassured   and   comforted 

by  the  demonstrations  of  readiness  on  the  part  of  the  people 

to  continue  the  contest,  and  of  confidence  in  the  cause  among 

21* 


490  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

the  moneyed  men  of  the  great  cities.  "  All  we  want  is  time  to 
develop  our  strength.  We  have  been  blamed  for  not  mak 
ing  greater  use  of  our  navy  and  extending  it  at  once.  It  was 
our  first  duty  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  our  capital.  Be 
sides,  a  man  will  generally  pay  little  attention  to  agencies  he 
does  not  understand.  None  of  us  knew  anything  about  a 
navy.  I  doubt  if  the  President  ever  saw  anything  more 
formidable  than  a  river  steamboat,  and  I  don't  think  Mr. 
Welles,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  knew  the  stem  from  the 
stern  of  a  ship.  Of  the  whole  Cabinet,  I  am  the  only  mem 
ber  who  ever  was  fairly  at  sea,  or  crossed  the  Atlantic. 
Some  of  us  never  even  saw  it.  No  wonder  we  did  not  un 
derstand  the  necessity  for  creating  a  navy  at  once.  Soon, 
however,  our  Government  will  be  able  to  dispose  of  a  re 
spectable  marine,  and  when  our  army  is  ready  to  move, 
cooperating  with  the  fleet,  the  days  of  the  rebellion  are  num 
bered." 

"  When  will  that  be,  Mr.  Secretary  ?  " 

'•  Soon  ;  very  soon,  I  hope.  We  can,  however,  bear  delays. 
The  rebels  will  be  ruined  by  it." 


CHAPTER   LIII. 

Eeturn  to  Baltimore —  Colonel  Carroll — A  Priest's  view  of  the  Abo 
lition  of  Slavery  —  Slavery  in  Maryland  —  Harper's  Ferry  — 
John  Brown  —  Back  by  train  to  Washington  —  Further  accounts 
of  Bull  Run  —  American  Vanity  —  My  own  unpopularity  for 
speaking  the  truth  —  Killing  a  "  Nigger  "  no  murder  —  Navy  De 
partment. 

ON  the  17th  August  I  returned  to  Baltimore  on  ray  way  to 
Drohoregan  Manor,  the  seat  of  Colonel  Carroll,  in  Maryland, 
where  I  had  been  invited  to  spend  a  few  days  by  his  son- 
in-law,  an  English  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance.  Leaving 
Baltimore  at  5-40,  p.  M.,  in  company  with  Mr.  Tucker  Carroll, 
I  proceeded  by  train  to  Ellicott's  Mills,  a  station  fourteen 
miles  on  the  Ohio  and  Baltimore  Railroad,  from  which  our 
host's  residence  is  distant  more  than  an  hour's  drive.  The 
country  through  which  the  line  passes  is  picturesque  and  un 
dulating,  with  hills  and  valleys  and  brawling  streams,  spread 
ing  in  woodland  and  glade,  ravine,  and  high  uplands  on  either 
side,  haunted  by  cotton  factories,  poisoning  air  and  water ; 
but  it  has  been  a  formidable  district  for  the  engineers  to  get 
through,  and  the  line  abounds  in  those  triumphs  of  engineer 
ing  which  are  generally  the  ruin  of  shareholders. 

All  these  lines  are  now  in  the  hands  of  the  military.  At 
the  Washington  terminus  there  is  a  guard  placed  to  see 
that  no  unauthorized  person  or  unwilling  volunteer  is  going 
north  ;  the  line  is  watched  by  patrols  and  sentries ;  troops  are 
encamped  along  its  course.  The  factory  chimneys  are  smoke 
less  ;  half  the  pleasant  villas  which  cover  the  hills  or  dot  the 
openings  in  the  forest  have  a  deserted  look  and  closed  windows. 
And  so  these  great  works,  the  Carrollton  Viaduct,  the  Thomas 
Viaduct,  and  the  high  embankments  and  great  cuttings  in 
the  ravine  by  the  riverside,  over  which  the  line  passes,  have 
almost  a  depressing  effect,  as  if  the  people  for  whose  use  they 
were  intended  had  all  become  extinct.  At  Ellicott's  Mills, 
which  is  a  considerable  manufacturing  town,  more  soldiers  and 


492  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Union  flags.     The  people  are  Unionists,  but  the  neighboring 
gentry  and  country  people  are  Seceshers. 

This  is  the  case  wherever  there  is  a  manufacturing  popula 
tion  in  Maryland,  because  the  workmen  are  generally  foreign 
ers,  or  have  come  from  the  Northern  States,  and  feel  little 
sympathy  with  States  Rights'  doctrines,  and  the  tendencies  of 
the  landed  gentry  to  a  conservative  action  on  the  slave  ques 
tion.  There  was  no  good-will  in  the  eyes  of  the  mechanicals 
as  they  stared  at  our  vehicle ;  for  the  political  bias  of  Colonel 
Carroll  was  well  known,  as  well  as  the  general  sentiments  of 
his  family.  It  was  dark  when  we  reached  the  manor,  which 
is  approached  by  an  avenue  of  fine  trees.  The  house  is  old- 
fashioned,  and  has  received  additions  from  time  to  time.  But 
for  the  black  faces  of  the  domestics,  one  might  easily  fancy 
he  was  in  some  old  country  house  in  Ireland.  The  famity 
have  adhered  to  their  ancient  faith.  The  founder  of  the  Car- 
rolls  in  Maryland  came  over  with  the  Catholic  colonists  led 
by  Lord  Baltimore,  or  by  his  brother,  Leonard  Calvert ;  and 
the  Colonel  possesses  some  interesting  deeds  of  grant  and  con 
veyance  of  the  vast  estates,  which  have  been  diminished  by 
large  sales  year  after  year,  but  still  spread  over  a  considerable 
part  of  several  counties  in  the  State. 

Colonel  Carroll  is  an  immediate  descendant  of  one  of  the 
leaders  in  the  Revolution  of  1776;  and  he  pointed  out  to  me 
the  room  in  which  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  and  George  Wash 
ington,  were  wont  to  meet  when  they  were  concocting  their 
splendid  treason.  One  of  his  connections  married  the  late 
Marquis  Wellesley ;  and  the  Colonel  takes  pleasure  in  setting 
forth  how  the  daughter  of  the  Irish  recusant,  who  fled  from 
his  native  country  all  but  an  outlaw,  sat  on  the  throne  of  the 
Queen  of  Ireland,  or,  in  other  words,  held  court  in  Dublin 
Castle  as  wife  of  the  Viceroy.  Drohoregan  is  supposed  to 
mean  "  Hall  of  the  Kings,"  and  is  called  after  an  old  place 
belonging,  some  time  or  other,  to  the  family,  the  early  history 
of  which,  as  set  forth  in  the  Celtic  authorities  and  Irish  anti- 
q/iarian  works,  possesses  great  attractions  for  the  kindly, 
genial  old  man,  —  kindly  and  genial  to  all  but  the  Abolition 
ists  and  Black  Republicans ;  nor  is  he  indifferent  to  the  reputa 
tion  of  the  State  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  where  the  "  Mary 
land  line"  seems  to  have  differed  from  many  of  the  contin 
gents  of  the  other  States,  in  not  running  away  so  often  at 
critical  moments  in  the  serious  actions.  Colonel  Carroll  has 
sound  arguments  to  prove  the  sovereign  independence  and 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  NEGROES.  493 

right  of  every  State  in  the  Union,  derived  from  family  teaching 
and  the  lessons  of  those  who  founded  the  Constitution  itself. 

On  the  day  after  my  arrival  the  rain  fell  in  torrents.  The 
weather  is  as  uncertain  as  that  of  our  own  isle.  The  torrid 
heats  at  Washington,  the  other  day,  were  succeeded  by  bitter 
cold  days ;  now  there  is  a  dense  mist,  chilly  and  cheerless, 
seeming  as  a  sort  of  strainer  for  the  even  down-pour  that 
falls  through  it  continuously.  The  family  after  breakfast 
slipped  round  to  the  little  chapel,  which  forms  the  extremity 
of  one  wing  of  the  house.  The  colored  people  on  the  estate 
were  already  trooping  across  the  lawn  and  up  the  avenue 
from  the  slave  quarters,  decently  dressed  for  the  most  part, 
having  due  allowance  for  the  extraordinary  choice  of  colors 
in  their  gowns,  bonnets,  and  ribbons,  and  for  the  unhappy  im 
itations,  on  the  part  of  the  men,  of  the  attire  of  their  mas 
ters.  They  walked  demurely  and  quietly  past  the  house ; 
and  presently  the  priest,  dressed  like  a  French  cure,  trotted 
up,  and  service  began.  The  negro  houses  were  of  a  much 
better  and  more  substantial  character  than  those  one  sees  in 
the  South,  though  not  remarkable  for  cleanliness  and  good 
order.  Truth  to  say,  they  were  palaces  compared  to  the  huts 
of  Irish  laborers,  such  as  might  be  found,  perhaps,  on  the 
estates  of  the  colonel's  kinsmen  at  home.  The  negroes  are 
far  more  independent  than  they  are  in  the  South.  They  are 
less  civil,  less  obliging,  and,  although  they  do  come  cring 
ing  to  shake  hands  as  the  field  hands  on  a  Louisianian  planta 
tion,  less  servile.  They  inhabit  a  small  village  of  brick  and 
wood  houses,  across  the  road  at  the  end  of  the  avenue,  and  in 
sight  of  the  house.  The  usual  swarms  of  little  children, 
poultry,  pigs,  enlivened  by  goats,  embarrassed  the  steps  of 
the  visitor ;  and  the  old  people,  or  those  who  were  not  finely 
dressed  enough  for  mass,  peered  out  at  the  strangers  from  the 
glassless  windows. 

When  chapel  was  over,  the  boys  and  girls  came  up  for 
catechism,  and  passed  in  review  before  the  ladies  of  the  house, 
with  whom  they  were  on  very  good  terms.  The  priest  joined 
us  in  the  veranda  when  his  labors  were  over,  and  talked  with 
intelligence  of  the  terrible  war  which  has  burst  over  the  land. 
He  has  just  returned  from  a  tour  in  the  Northern  States  ;  and 
it  is  his  belief  the  native  Americans  there  will  not  enlist,  but 
that  they  will  get  foreigners  to  fight  their  battles.  He  ad 
mitted  that  slavery  was  in  itself  an  evil,  nay,  more,  that  it 
was  not  profitable  in  Maryland.  But  what  are  the  landed 


494  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

proprietors  to  do  ?  The  slaves  have  been  bequeathed  to  them 
as  property  by  their  fathers,  with  certain  obligations  to  be  re 
spected,  and  duties  to  be  fulfilled.  It  is  impossible  to  free 
them,  because,  at  the  moment  of  emancipation,  nothing  short 
of  the  confiscation  of  all  the  labor  and  property  of  the  whites 
would  be  required  to  maintain  the  negroes,  who  would  cer 
tainly  refuse  to  work,  unless  they  had  their  masters'  land  as 
their  own.  Where  is  white  labor  to  be  found?  Its  introduc 
tion  must  be  the  work  of  years;  and  meantime  many  thou 
sands  of  slaves,  who  have  a  right  to  protection,  would  canker 
the  land. 

In  Maryland  they  do  not  breed  slaves  for  the  purpose  of 
selling  them  as  they  do  in  Virginia,  and  yet  Colonel  Carroll 
and  other  gentlemen  who  regarded  the  slaves  they  inherited 
almost  as  members  of  their  families,  have  been  stigmatized 
by  Abolition  orators  as  slave-breeders  and  slave-dealers.  It 
was  these  insults  which  stung  the  gentlemen  of  Maryland  and 
of  the  other  Slave  States  to  the  quick,  and  made  them  resolve 
never  to  yield  to  the  domination  of  a  party  which  had  never 
ceased  to  wage  war  against  their  institutions  and  their  reputa 
tion  and  honor. 

A  little  knot  of  friends  and  relations  joined  Colonel  Carroll 
at  dinner.  There  are  few  families  in  this  part  of  Maryland 
which  have  not  representatives  in  the  other  army  across  the 
Potomac ;  and  if  Beauregard  could  but  make  his  appearance, 
the  women  alone  would  give  him  welcome  such  as  no  con 
queror  ever  received  in  liberated  city. 

Next  day  the  rain  fell  incessantly.  The  mail  was  brought 
in  by  a  little  negro  boy  on  horseback,  and  I  was  warned  by 
my  letters  that  an  immediate  advance  of  McClellan's  troops 
was  probable.  This  is  an  old  story.  "  Battle  expected  to 
morrow  "  has  been  a  heading  in  the  papers  for  the  last  fort 
night.  In  the  afternoon  I  was  driven  over  a  part  of  the 
estate  in  a  close  carriage,  through  the  windows  of  which,  how 
ever,  I  caught  glimpses  of  a  beautiful  country,  wooded  glori 
ously,  and  soft,  sylvan,  and  well-cultivated  as  the  best  parts  of 
Hampshire  and  Gloucestershire,  the  rolling  lands  of  which 
latter  county,  indeed,  it  much  resembled  in  its  large  fields, 
heavy  with  crops  of  tobacco  and  corn.  The  weather  was  too 
unfavorable  to  admit  of  a  close  inspection  of  the  fields ;  but  I 
visited  one  or  two  tobacco  houses,  where  the  fragrant  Mary 
land  was  lying  in  masses  on  the  ground,  or  hanging  from  the 
rafters,  or  filled  the  heavy  hogsheads  with  compressed  smoke. 


HARPER'S  FERRY.  495 

Next  day  I  took  the  train,  at  Ellicott's  Mills,  and  went  to 
Harper's  Ferry.  There  is  no  one  spot,  in  the  history  of  this 
extraordinary  war,  which  can  be  well  more  conspicuous. 
Had  it  nothing  more  to  recommend  it  than  the  scenery,  it 
might  well  command  a  visit  from  the  tourist ;  but  as  the  scene 
of  old  John  Brown's  raid  upon  the  Federal  arsenal,  of  that 
first  passage  of  arms  betweeen  the  Abolitionists  and  the  Slave 
Conservatives,  which  has  developed  this  great  contest ;  above 
all,  as  the  spot  where  important  military  demonstrations  have 
been  made  on  both  sides,  and  will  necessarily  occur  hereafter, 
this  place,  which  probably  derives  its  name  from  some 
wretched  old  boatman,  will  be  renowned  forever  in  the  annals 
of  the  Civil  War  of  1861.  The  Patapsco,  by  the  bank  of 
which  the  rail  is  carried  for  some  miles,  has  all  the  character 
of  a  mountain  torrent,  rushing  through  gorges  or  carving  out 
its  way  at  the  base  of  granite  hills,  or  boldly  cutting  a  path  for 
itself  through  the  softer  slate.  Bridges,  viaducts,  remark 
able  archways,  and  great  spans  of  timber  trestle-work  leaping 
from  hill  to  hill,  enable  the  rail  to  creep  onwards  and  upwards 
by  the  mountain  side  to  the  Potomac  at  Point  of  Rocks, 
whence  it  winds  its  way  over  undulating  ground,  by  stations 
with  eccentric  names  to  the  river's  bank  once  more.  We 
were  carried  on  to  the  station  next  to  Harper's  Ferry  on  a 
ledge  of  the  precipitous  mountain  range  which  almost  over 
hangs  the  stream.  But  few  civilians  were  in  the  train.  The 
greater  number  of  passengers  consisted  of  soldiers  and  sutlers, 
proceeding  to  their  encampments  along  the  river.  A  strict 
watch  was  kept  over  the  passengers,  whose  passes  were  ex 
amined  by  officers  at  the  various  stations.  At  one  place  an 
officer  who  really  looked  like  a  soldier  entered  the  train,  and 
on  seeing  my  pass  told  me  in  broken  P^nglish  that  he  had 
served  in  the  Crimea,  and  was  acquainted  with  me  and  many 
of  my  friends.  The  gentleman  who  accompanied  me  observed, 
"  I  do  not  know  whether  he  was  in  the  Crimea  or  not,  but  I  do 
know  that  till  very  lately  your  friend  the  Major  was  a  dan 
cing-master  in  New  York."  A  person  of  a  very  different  type 
made  his  offers  of  service,  Colonel  Gordon  of  the  2d  Massa 
chusetts  Regiment,  who  caused  the  train  to  run  on  as  far  as 
Harper's  Ferry,  in  order  to  give  me  a  sight  of  the  place, 
although  in  consequence  of  the  evil  habit  of  firing  on  the 
carriages  in  which  the  Confederates  across  the  river  have 
been  indulging,  the  locomotive  generally  halts  at  some  distance 
below  the  bend  of  the  river. 


496  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

Harper's  Ferry  lies  in  a  gorge  formed  by  a  rush  of  the 
Potomac  through  the  mountain  ridges,  which  it  cuts  at  right 
angles  to  its  course  at  its  junction  with  the  river  Shenandoah. 
So  trenchant  and  abrupt  is  the  division  that  little  land  is  on 
the  divided  ridge  to  build  upon.  The  precipitous  hills  on  both 
sides  are  covered  with  forest,  which  has  been  cleared  in 
patches  here  and  there  on  the  Maryland  shore,  to  permit  of 
the  erection  of  batteries.  On  the  Virginian  side  there  lies  a 
mass  of  blackened  and  ruined  buildings,  from  which  a  street 
lined  with  good  houses  stretches  up  the  hill.  Just  above  the 
junction  of  the  Shenandoah  with  the  Potomac,  an  elevated 
bridge  or  viaduct  300  yards  long  leaps  from  hill-side  to  hill 
side.  The  arches  had  been  broken  —  the  rails  which  ran 
along  the  top  torn  up,  and  there  is  now  a  deep  gulf  fixed  be 
tween  the  shores  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  rail  to 
Winchester  from  this  point  has  been  destroyed,  and  the  line 
along  the  Potomac  has  also  been  ruined. 

But  for  the  batteries  which  cover  the  shoal  water  at  the 
junction  of  the  two  rivers  below  the  bridge,  there  would  be  no 
difficulty  in  crossing  to  the  Maryland  shore,  and  from  that  side 
the  whole  of  the  ground  around  Harper's  Ferry  is  completely 
commanded.  The  gorge  is  almost  as  deep  as  the  pass  of 
Killiecranckie,  which  it  resembles  in  most  respects  except  in 
breadth  and  the  size  of  the  river  between,  and  if  ever  a  rail 
road  finds  its  way  to  Blair  Athol,  the  passengers  will  find 
something  to  look  at  very  like  the  scenery  on  the  route  to 
Harper's  Ferry.  The  vigilance  required  to  guard  the  pass 
of  the  river  above  and  below  this  point  is  incessant,  but  the 
Federals  possess  the  advantage  on  their  side  of  a  deep  canal 
parallel  to  the  railway  and  running  above  the  level  of  the 
river,  which  would  be  a  more  formidable  obstacle  than  the 
Potomac  to  infantry  or  guns.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that 
the  Secessionists  in  Maryland  cross  backwards  and  forwards 
whenever  they  please,  and  the  Virginians  coming  down  at 
their  leisure  to  the  opposite  shore,  inflict  serious  annoyance  on 
the  Federal  troops  by  constant  rifle  practice. 

Looking  up  and  down  the  river  the  scenery  is  picturesque, 
though  it  is  by  no  means  entitled  to  the  extraordinary  praises 
which  American  tourists  lavish  upon  it.  Probably  old  John 
Brown  cared  little  for  the  wild  magic  of  streamlet  or  rill,  or 
for  the  blended  charm  of  vale  and  woodland.  When  he  made 
his  attack  on  the  arsenal  now  in  ruins,  he  probably  thought  a 
valley  was  as  high  as  a  hill,  and  that  there  was  no  necessity 


BACK  TO  WASHINGTON.  497 

for  water  running  downwards  —  assuredly  he  saw  as  little  of 
the  actual  heights  and  depths  around  him  when  he  ran  across 
the  Potomac  to  revolutionize  Virginia.  He  has  left  behind 
him  millions  either  as  clear-sighted  or  as  blind  as  himself.  In 
New  England  parlors  a  statuette  of  John  Brown  may  be  found 
as  a  pendant  to  the  likeness  of  our  Saviour.  In  Virginia  his 
name  is  the  synonyme  of  all  that  is  base,  bloody,  and  cruel. 

Harper's  Ferry  at  present,  for  all  practical  purposes,  may 
be  considered  as  Confederate  property.  The  few  Union  in 
habitants  remain  in  their  houses,  but  many  of  the  Govern 
ment  workmen  and  most  of  the  inhabitants  have  gone  off 
South.  For  strategical  purposes  its  possession  would  be  most 
important  to  a  force  desiring  to  operate  on  Maryland  from 
Virginia.  The  Blue  Ridge  range  running  up  to  the  Shenan- 
doah  divides  the  country  so  as  to  permit  a  force  debouching 
from  Harper's  Ferry  to  advance  down  the  valley  of  the 
Shenandoah  on  the  right,  or  to  move  to  the  left  between  the 
Blue  Ridge  and  the  Katoctin  mountains  towards  the  Manas- 
sas  Railway  at  its  discretion.  After  a  false  alarm  that  some 
Secesh  cavalry  were  corning  down  to  renew  the  skirmishing 
of  the  day  before,  I  returned,  and  travelling  to  Relay  House 
just  saved  the  train  to  Washington,  where  I  arrived  after 
sunset.  A  large  number  of  Federal  troops  are  employed 
along  these  lines,  which  they  occupy  as  if  they  were  in  a 
hostile  country.  An  imperfectly  formed  regiment  broken  up 
into  these  detachments  and  placed  in  isolated  posts,  under  ig 
norant  officers,  may  be  regarded  as  almost  worthless  for  mili 
tary  operations.  Hence  the  constant  night  alarms  —  the 
mistakes  —  the  skirmishes  and  instances  of  misbehavior  which 
arise  along  these  extended  lines. 

On  the  journey  from  Harper's  Ferry,  the  concentration  of 
masses  of  troops  along  the  road,  and  the  march  of  heavy  ar 
tillery  trains,  caused  me  to  think  a  renewal  of  the  offensive 
movement  against  Richmond  was  immediate,  but  at  Washing 
ton  I  heard  that  all  McClellan  wanted  or  hoped  for  at  present, 
was  to  make  Maryland  safe  and  to  gain  time  for  the  formation 
of  his  army.  The  Confederates  appear  to  be  moving  towards 
their  left,  and  McClellan  is  very  uneasy  lest  they  should  make 
a  vigorous  attack  before  he  is  prepared  to  receive  them. 

In  the  evening  the  New  York  papers  came  in  with  the  ex 
tracts  from  the  London  papers  containing  my  account  of  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run.  Utterly  forgetting  their  own  versions 
of  the  engagement,  the  New  York  editors  now  find  it  conven- 


498  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

ient  to  divert  attention  from  the  bitter  truth  that  was  in  them, 
to  the  letter  of  the  foreign  newspaper  correspondent,  who,  be 
cause  he  is  a  British  subject,  will  prove  not  only  useful  as  a 
conductor  to  carry  off  the  popular  wrath  from  the  American 
journalists  themselves,  but  as  a  means  by  induction  of  charg 
ing  the  vials  afresh  against  the  British  people,  inasmuch  as 
they  have  not  condoled  with  the  North  on  the  defeat  of  ar 
mies  which  they  were  assured  would,  if  successful,  he  immedi 
ately  led  to  effect  the  disruption  of  the  British  empire.  At  the 
outset  I  had  foreseen  this  would  be  the  case,  and  deliberately 
accepted  the  issue  ;  but  when  I  found  the  Northern  journal 
far  exceeding  in  severity  anything  I  could  have  said,  and  in 
dulging  in  general  invective  against  whole  classes  of  American 
soldiery,  officers,  and  statesmen,  I  was  foolish  enough  to  ex 
pect  a  little  justice,  not  to  say  a  word  of  the  smallest  gener 
osity. 

August  ^Ist. —  The  echoes  of  Bull  Run  are  coming  back 
with  a  vengeance.  This  day  month  the  miserable  fragments 
of  a  beaten,  washed  out,  demoralized  army,  were  flooding  in 
disorder  and  dismay  the  streets  of  the  capital  from  which  they 
had  issued  forth  to  repel  the  tide  of  invasion.  This  day  month 
and  all  the  editors  and  journalists  in  the  States,  weeping,  wail 
ing,  and  gnashing  their  teeth,  infused  extra  gall  into  their  ink, 
and  poured  out  invective,  abuse,  and  obloquy  on  their  defeated 
general  and  their  broken  hosts.  The  President  and  his  Min 
isters,  stunned  by  the  tremendous  calamity,  sat  listening  in  fear 
and  trembling  for  the  sound  of  the  enemy's  cannon.  The 
veteran  soldier,  on  whom  the  boasted  hopes  of  the  nation 
rested,  heart-sick  and  beaten  down,  had  neither  counsel  to  give 
nor  action  to  offer.  At  any  moment  the  Confederate  columns 
might  be  expected  in  Pennsylvania  Avenue  to  receive  the 
welcome  of  their  friends  and  the  submission  of  their  helpless 
and  disheartened  enemies. 

All  this  is  forgotten  —  and  much  more,  which  need  not 
now  be  repeated.  Saved  from  a  great  peril,  even  the  bitter 
ness  of  death,  they  forget  the  danger  that  has  passed,  deny 
that  they  uttered  cries  of  distress  and  appeals  for  help,  and 
swagger  in  all  the  insolence  of  recovered  strength.  Not  only 
that,  but  they  turn  and  rend  those  whose  writing  has  been 
dug  up  after  thirty  days,  and  comes  back  as  a  rebuke  to  their 
pride. 

Conscious  that  they  have  insulted  and  irritated  their  own 
army,  that  they  have  earned  the  bitter  hostility  of  men  in 


A  MONTH  AGO.  499 

power,  and  have  for  once  inflicted  a  wound  on  the  vanity  to 
•which  they  have  given  such  offensive  dimensions,  if  not  life 
itself,  they  now  seek  to  run  a  drag  scent  between  the  public 
nose  and  their  own  unpopularity,  and  to  create  such  an 
amount  of  indignation  and  to  ca*t  so  much  odium  upon  one 
who  has  had  greater  facilities  to  know,  and  is  more  willing  to 
tell  the  truth,  than  any  of  their  organs,  that  he  will  be  unable 
henceforth  to  perform  his  duties  in  a  country  where  unpopu 
larity  means  simply  a  political  and  moral  atrophy  or  death. 
In  the  telegraphic  summary  some  days  ago  a  few  phrases 
were  picked  out  of  ray  letters,  which  were  but  very  faint 
paraphrases  of  some  of  the  sentences  which  might  be  culled 
from  Northern  newspapers,  but  the  storm  has  been  gathering 
ever  since,  and  I  am  no  doubt  to  experience  the  truth  of  De 
Tocqueville's  remark,  "  that  a  stranger  who  injures  American 
vanity,  no  matter  how  justly,  may  make  up  his  mind  to  be  a 
martyr." 

August  22d. — 

"  The  little  dogs  and  all, 
Tray,  Blanche,  and  Sweetheart, 
See  they  bark  at  me." 

The  North  have  recovered  their  wind,  and  their  pipers  are 
blowing  with  might  and  main.  The  time  given  them  to 
breathe  after  Bull  Run  has  certainly  been  accompanied  with 
a  greater  development  of  lung  and  power  of  blowing  than 
could  have  been  expected.  The  volunteer  army  which  dis 
persed  and  returned  home  to  receive  the  To  Paeans  of  the 
North,  has  been  replaced  by  better  and  more  numerous  levies, 
which  have  the  strong  finger  and  thumb  of  General  McClel- 
lan  on  their  windpipe,  and  find  it  is  not  quite  so  easy  as  it  was 
to  do  as  they  pleased.  The  North,  besides,  has  received  sup 
plies  of  money,  and  is  using  its  great  resources,  by  land  and 
sea,  to  some  purpose,  and  as  they  wax  fat  they  kick. 

A  general  officer  said  to  me,  "  Of  course  you  will  never 
remain,  when  once  all  the  press  are  down  upon  you.  I  would 
not  take  a  million  dollars  and  be  in  your  place."  "  But  is 
what  I've  written  untrue  ?  "  "  God  bless  you  !  do  you  know 
in  this  country  if  you  can  get  enough  of  people  to  start  a  lie 
about  any  man,  he  would  be  ruined,  if  the  Evangelists  came 
forward  to  swear  the  story  was  false.  There  are  thousands 
of  people  who  this  moment  believe  that  McDowell,  who  never 
tasted  anything  stronger  than  a  water-melon  in  all  his  life, 


500  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

was  helplessly  drunk  at  Bull  Run.  Mind  what  I  say ;  they'll 
run  you  into  a  mud-hole  as  sure  as  you  live."  I  was  not 
much  impressed  with  the  danger  of  my  position  further  than 
that  I  knew  there  would  be  a  certain  amount  of  risk  from 
the  rowdyism  and  vanity  of  what  even  the  Americans  admit 
to  be  the  lower  orders,  for  which  I  had  been  prepared  from 
the  moment  I  had  despatched  my  letter  ;  but  I  confess  I  was 
not  by  any  means  disposed  to  think  that  the  leaders  of  public 
opinion  would  seek  the  small  gratification  of  revenge,  and  the 
petty  popularity  of  pandering  to  the  passions  of  the  mob,  by 
creating  a  popular  cry  against  me.  I  am  not  aware  that  any 
foreigner  ever  visited  the  United  States  who  was  injudicious 
enough  to  write  one  single  word  derogatory  to  their  claims  to 
be  the  first  of  created  beings,  who  was  not  assailed  with  the 
most  viperous  malignity  and  rancor.  The  man  who  says  he 
has  detected  a  single  spot  on  the  face  of  their  sun  should  pre 
pare  his  winding  sheet. 

The  "  New  York  Times,"  I  find,  states  "  that  the  terrible 
epistle  has  been  read  with  quite  as  much  avidity  as  an  aver 
age  President's  Message.  We  scarcely  exaggerate  the  fact 
when  we  say,  the  first  and  foremost  thought  on  the  minds  of 
a  very  large  portion  of  our  people  after  the  repulse  at  Bull 
Run  was,  what  will  Russell  say  ?  "  and  then  they  repeat  some 
of  the  absurd  sayings  attributed  to  me,  who  declared  openly 
from  the  very  first  that  I  had  not  seen  the  battle  at  all,  to  the 
effect  "  that  I  had  never  seen  such  fighting  in  all  my  life,  and 
that  nothing  at  Alrna  or  Inkerman  was  equal  to  it."  An  anal 
ysis  of  the  letter  follows,  in  which  it  is  admitted  that  "  with 
perfect  candor  I  purported  to  give  an  account  of  what  I  saw, 
and  not  of  the  action  which  I  did  not  see,"  and  the  writer, 
who  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Raymond,  of  the  "  New) 
York  Times,"  like  myself  a  witness  of  the  facts  I  describe, 
quotes  a  passage  in  which  I  say,  "  There  was  no  flight  of 
troops,  no  retreat  of  an  army,  no  reason  for  all  this  precipita 
tion,"  and  then  declares  "  that  my  letter  gives  a  very  spirited 
and  perfectly  just  description  of  the  panic  which  impelled  and 
accompanied  the  troops  from  Centreville  to  Washington.  He 
does  not,  for  he  cannot,  in  the  least  exaggerate  its  horrible 
disorder,  or  the  disgraceful  behavior  of  the  incompetent  offi 
cers  by  whom  it  was  aided,  instead  of  being  checked.  He 
saw  nothing  whatever  of  the  fighting,  and  therefore  says  noth 
ing  whatever  of  its  quality.  He  gives  a  clear,  fair,  perfectly 
just  and  accurate,  as  it  is  a  spirited  and  graphic  account  of 


BLACK  AND  WHITE.  501 

the  extraordinary  scenes  which  passed  under  his  observation. 
Discreditable  as  those  scenes  were  to  our  army,  we  have 
nothing  in  connection  with  them  whereof  to  accuse  the  re 
porter  ;  he  has  done  justice  alike  to  himself,  his  subject,  and 
the  country." 

Ne  nobis  Uandiar,  I  may  add,  that  at  least  I  desired  to  do 
so,  and  I  can  prove  from  Northern  papers  that  if  their  ac 
counts  were  true,  I  certainly  much  "  extenuated  and  nought 
set  down  in  malice  "  —  nevertheless,  Philip  drunk  is  very 
different  from  Philip  sober,  frightened,  and  running  away, 
and  the  man  who  attempts  to  justify  his  version  to  the  inebri 
ated  polycephalous  monarch  is  sure  to  meet  such  treatment  as 
inebriated  despots  generally  award  to  their  censors. 

August  23d. —  The  torrent  is  swollen  to-day  by  anonymous 
letters  threatening  me  with  bowie-knife  and  revolver,  or  sim 
ply  abusive,  frantic  with  hate,  and  full  of  obscure  warnings. 
Some  bear  the  Washington  postmark,  others  came  from  New 
York,  the  greater  number  —  for  I  have  had  nine  —  are  from 
Philadelphia.  Perhaps  they  may  come  from  the  members  of 
that  "gallant"  4th  Pennsylvania  Regiment. 

August  24th. —  My  servant  came  in  this  morning,  to  an 
nounce  a  trifling  accident  —  he  was  exercising  my  horse,  and 
at  the  corner  of  one  of  those  charming  street  crossings,  the 
animal  fell  and  broke  its  leg.  A  "  vet "  was  sent  for.  I  was 
sure  that  such  a  portent  had  never  been  born  in  those  Daunian 
woods.  A  man  about  twenty-seven  or  twenty-eight  stone 
weight,  middle-aged  and  active,  with  a  fine  professional  feeling 
for  distressed  horse-flesh  ;  and  I  was  right  in  my  conjectures 
that  he  was  a  Briton,  though  the  vet  had  become  Americanized, 
and  was  full  of  enthusiasm  about  "  our  war  for  the  Union," 
which  was  yielding  him  a  fine  harvest.  He  complained  there 
were  a  good  many  bad  characters  about  Washington.  The 
matter  is  proved  beyond  doubt  by  what  we  see,  hear,  and  read. 
To-day  there  is  an  account  in  the  papers  of  a  brute  shooting 
a  negro  boy  dead,  because  he  asked  him  for  a  chew  of  tobacco. 
Will  he  be  hanged  ?  Not  the  smallest  chance  of  it.  The 
idea  of  hanging  a  white  man  for  killing  a  nigger  !  It  is  more 
preposterous  here  than  it  is  in  India,  where  our  authorities 
have  actually  executed  whites  for  the  murder  of  natives. 

Before  dinner  I  walked  down  to  the  Washington  Navy  Yard. 
Captain  Dahlgren  was  sorely  perplexed  with  an  intoxicated 
senator,  whose  name  it  is  not  necessary  to  mention,  and  who 
seemed  to  think  he  paid  me  a  great  compliment  by  expressing 


502  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

his  repeated  desire  "  to  have  a  good  look  at  "  me.  "  I  guess 
you're  quite  notorious  now.  You'll  excuse  me  because  I've 
dined,  now  —  and  so  you  are  the  Mr.  &c.,  &c.,  &c."  The 

senator  informed  me  that  he  was  "none  of  your  d d 

blackfaced  Republicans.  He  didn't  care  a  d about  nig 
gers  —  his  business  was  to  do  good  to  his  fellow  white  men,  to 
hold  our  glorious  Union  together,  and  let  the  niggers  take 
care  of  themselves." 

I  was  glad  when  a  diversion  was  effected  by  the  arrival  of 
Mr.  Fox,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  Mr.  Blair,  Post 
master-General,  to  consult  with  the  Captain,  who  is  greatly  looked 
up  to  by  all  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  —  in  fact  he  is  rather 
inconvenienced  by  the  perpetual  visits  of  the  President,  who 
is  animated  by  a  most  extraordinary  curiosity  about  naval  mat 
ters  and  machinery,  and  is  attracted  by  the  novelty  of  the 
whole  department,  so  that  he  is  continually  running  down  "  to 
have  a  talk  with  Dahlgren  "  when  he  is  not  engaged  in  "  a 
chat  with  George."  The  senator  opened  such  a  smart  fire  on 
the  minister  that  the  latter  retired,  and  I  mounted  and  rode 
back  to  town.  In  the  evening  Major  Clarence  Brown,  Lieu 
tenant  Wise,  a  lively,  pleasant,  and  amusing  little  sailor,  well- 
known  in  the  States  as  the  author  of  "  Los  Gringos,"  who  is 
now  employed  in  the  Navy  Department,  and  a  few  of  the  gen 
tlemen  connected  with  the  Foreign  Legations  came  in,  and 
we  had  a  great  international  reunion  and  discussion  till  a  late 
hour.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  agreeable  banter  reserved  for 
myself,  as  to  the  exact  form  of  death  which  I  am  most  likely 
to  meet.  I  was  seriously  advised  by  a  friend  not  to  stir  out 
unarmed.  The  great  use  of  a  revolver  is  that  it  will  prevent 
the  indignity  of  tarring  and  feathering,  now  pretty  rife,  by 
provoking  greater  violence.  I  also  received  a  letter  from 
London,  advising  me  to  apply  to  Lord  Lyons  for  protection, 
but  that  could  only  be  extended  to  me  within  the  walls  of  the 
Legation. 

August  25th.  —  I  visited  the  Navy  Department,  which  is  a 
small  red-brick  building  two  stories  high,  very  plain  and  even 
humble.  The  subordinate  departments  are  conducted  in  rooms 
below  stairs.  The  executive  are  lodged  in  the  rooms  which 
line  both  sides  of  the  corridor  above.  The  walls  of  the  passage 
are  lined  with  paintings  in  oil  and  water  colors,  engravings  and 
paintings  in  the  worst  style  of  art.  To  the  latter  considerable 
interest  attaches,  as  they  are  authentic  likenesses  of  naval 
officers  who  gained  celebrity  in  the  wars  with  Great  Britain  — 


THE  NAVY  DEPARTMENT.  503 

men  like  Perry,  McDonough,  Decatur,  and  Hull,  who,  ns  the 
Americans  boast,  was  "  the  first  man  who  compelled  a  British 
frigate  of  greater  force  than  his  own  to  strike  her  colors  in  fair 
fight."  Paul  Jones  was  not  to  be  seen,  but  a  drawing  is  proudly 
pointed  to  of  the  attack  of  the  American  fleet  on  Algiers  as  a 
proof  of  hatred  to  piracy,  and  of  the  prominent  part  taken  by 
the  young  States  in  putting  an  end  to  it  in  Europe.  In  one 
room  are  several  swords,  surrendered  by  English  officers  in 
the  single  frigate  engagements,  and  the  duplicates  of  medals, 
in  gold  and  silver,  voted  by  Congress  to  the  victors.  In 
Lieutenant  Wise's  room,  there  are  models  of  the  projectiles, 
and  a  series  of  shot  and  shell  used  in  the  navy,  or  deposited  by 
inventors.  Among  other  relics  was  the  flag  of  Captain  Ward's 
boat  just  brought  in  which  was  completely  riddled  by  the  bullet 
marks  received  in  the  ambuscade  in  which  that  officer  was 
killed,  with  nearly  all  of  his  boat's  crew,  as  they  incautiously 
approached  the  shore  of  the  Potomac,  to  take  off  a  small  craft 
placed  there  to  decoy  them  by  the  Confederates.  My  business 
was  to  pave  the  way  for  a  passage  on  board  a  steamer,  in  case 
of  any  naval  expedition  starting  before  the  army  was  ready  to 
move,  but  all  difficulties  were  at  once  removed  by  the  prompti 
tude  and  courtesy  of  Mr.  Fox,  the  Assistant  Secretary,  who 
promised  to  give  me  an  order  for  a  passage  whenever  I  required 
it.  The  extreme  civility  and  readiness  to  oblige  of  all  Ameri 
can  officials,  high  and  low,  from  the  gate-keepers  and  door-por 
ters  up  to  the  heads  of  departments,  cannot  be  too  highly 
praised,  and  it  is  ungenerous  to  accept  the  explanation  offered 
by  an  English  officer  to  whom  I  remarked  the  circumstance, 
that  it  is  due  to  the  fact  that  each  man  is  liable  to  be  turned 
out  at  the  end  of  four  years,  and  therefore  makes  all  the 
friends  he  can. 

In  the  afternoon  I  rode  out  with  Captain  Johnson,  through 
some  charming  woodland  scenery  on  the  outskirts  of  Washing 
ton,  by  a  brawling  stream,  in  a  shady  little  ravine,  that  put  me 
in  mind  of  the  Dargle.  Our  ride  led  us  into  the  camps, 
formed  on  the  west  of  Georgetown  to  cover  the  city  from  the 
attacks  of  an  enemy  advancing  along  the  left  bank  of  the 
Potomac,  and  in  support  of  several  strong  forts  and  earthworks 
placed  on  the  heights.  One  regiment  consists  altogether  of 
Frenchmen  —  another  is  of  Germans  —  in  a  third  I  saw  an 
officer  with  a  Crimean  and  Indian  medal  on  his  breast,  and 
several  privates  with  similar  decorations.  Some  of  the  regi 
ments  were  on  parade,  and  crowds  of  civilians  from  Washing- 


504  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

ton  were  enjoying  the  novel  scene,  and  partaking  of  the  hos 
pitality  of  their  friends.  One  old  lady,  whom  I  have  always 
seen  about  the  camps,  and  who  is  a  sort  of  ancient  heroine  of 
Saragossa,  had  an  opportunity  of  being  useful.  The  15th 
Massachusetts,  a  fine-looking  body  of  men,  had  broken  up 
camp,  and  were  marching  off  to  the  sound  of  their  own  voices 
chanting  "  Old  John  Brown,"  when  one  of  the  enormous  trains 
of  baggage  wagons  attached  to  them  was  carried  off  by  the 
frightened  mules  which  probably  had  belonged  to  Virgin 
ian  farmers,  and  one  of  the  soldiers,  in  trying  to  stop  it,  was 
dashed  to  the  ground  and  severely  injured.  The  old  lady 
was  by  his  side  in  a  moment,  and  out  came  her  flask  of  strong 
waters,  bandages,  and  medical  comforts  and  apparatus.  "  It's 
well  I'm  here  for  this  poor  Union  soldier  ;  I'm  sure  I  always 
have  something  to  do  in  these  camps."  On  my  return  late, 
there  was  a  letter  on  my  table  requesting  me  to  visit  General 
McClellan,  but  it  was  then  too  far  advanced  to  avail  myself  of 
the  invitation,  which  was  only  delivered  after  I  left  my  lodg 
ings. 


CHAPTER   LIV. 

A  tour  of  inspection  round  the  camp  —  A  troublesome  horse  — 
McDowell  and  the  President  —  My  description  of  Bull  Run  in 
dorsed  by  American  officers  —  Influence  of  the  Press  —  Newspa 
per  correspondents  — Dr.  Bray  —  My  letters  —  Capt.  Meagher  — 
Military  adventurers  —  Probable  duration  of  the  war — Lord  A. 
Vane  Tempest — The  American  journalist  — Threats  of  assassi 
nation. 

August  26th. —  General  Van  Vliet  called  from  General 
McClellan  to  say  that  the  Commander-in-Chief  would  be  happy 
to  go  round  the  camps  with  me  when  he  next  made  an  inspec 
tion,  and  would  send  round  an  orderly  and  charger  in  time  to 
get  ready  before  he  started.  These  little  excursions  are  not 
the  most  agreeable  affairs  in  the  world  ;  for  McCiellan  delights 
in  working  down  staff  and  escort,  dashing  from  the  Chain 
Bridge  to  Alexandria,  and  visiting  all  the  posts,  riding  as  hard 
as  he  can,  arid  not  returning  till  past  midnight,  so  that  if  one 
has  a  regard  for  his  cuticle,  or  his  mail-days  he  will  not  rashly 
venture  on  such  excursions.  To-day  he  is  to  inspect  McDow 
ell's  division. 

I  set  out  accordingly  with  Captain  Johnson  over  the  Long 
Bridge,  which  is  now  very  strictly  guarded.  On  exhibiting 
my  pass  to  the  sentry  at  the  entrance,  he  called  across  to  the 
sergeant  and  spoke  to  him  aside,  showing  him  the  pass  at  the 
same  time.  "  Are  you  Russell,  of  the  London  *  Times  '  ?  "  said 
the  sergeant.  I  replied,  "  If  you  look  at  the  pass,  you  will  see 
who  I  am."  He  turned  it  over,  examined  it  most  narrowly, 
and  at  last,  with  an  expression  of  infinite  dissatisfaction  and 
anger  upon  his  face,  handed  it  back,  saying  to  the  sentry,  "  I 
suppose  you  must  let  him  go." 

Meantime  Captain  Johnson  was  witching  the  world  with 
feats  of  noble  horsemanship,  for  I  had  lent  him  my  celebrated 
horse  Walker,  so  called  because  no  earthly  equestrian  can  in 
duce  him  to  do  anything  but  trot  violently,  gallop  at  full  speed, 
or  stand  on  his  hind  legs.  Captain  Johnson  laid  the  whole 
22 


506  MY   DIARY   NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

fault  of  the  animal's  conduct  to  my  mismanngement,  affirming 
that  all  it  required  was  a  light  hand  and  gentleness,  and  so,  as 
he  could  display  both,  I  promised  to  let  him  have  a  trial  to-day. 
Walker,  on  starting,  however,  insisted  on  having  a  dance  to 
himself,  which  my  friend  attributed  to  the  excitement  produced 
by  the  presence  of  the  other  horse,  and  I  rode  quietly  along 
whilst  the  captain  proceeded  to  establish  an  acquaintance  with 
his  steed  in  some  quiet  by-street.  As  I  was  crossing  the 
Long  Bridge,  the  forbidden  clatter  of  a  horse's  hoofs  on  the 
planks  caused  rne  to  look  round,  and  on,  in  a  cloud  of  dust, 
through  the  midst  of  shouting  sentries,  came  my  friend  of  the 
gentle  hand  and  unruffled  temper,  with  his  hat  thumped  down 
on  the  back  of  his  head,  his  eyes  gleaming,  his  teeth  clinched, 
his  fine  features  slightly  flushed,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  sawing 
violently  at  Walker's  head,  and  exclaiming,  "  You  brute,  I'll 
teach  you  to  walk,"  till  he  brought  up  by  the  barrier  midway 
on  the  bridge.  The  guard,  en  masse,  called  the  Captain's  at 
tention  to  the  order,  "  all  horses  to  walk  over  the  bridge." 
"  Why,  that's  what  I  want  him  to  do.  I'll  give  any  man 
among  you  one  hundred  dollars  who  can  make  him  walk  along 
this  bridge  or  anywhere  else."  The  redoubtable  steed,  being 
permitted  to  proceed  upon  its  way,  dashed  swiftly  through  the 
tele  de  pont,  or  stood  on  his  hind  legs  when  imperatively  ar 
rested  by  a  barrier  or  abattis,  and  on  these  occasions  my  ex 
cellent  friend,  as  he  displayed  his  pass  in  one  hand  and  re 
strained  Bucephalus  with  the  other,  reminded  me  of  nothing 
so  much  as  the  statue  of  Peter  the  Great,  in  the  square  on 
the  banks  of  the  Neva,  or  the  noble  equestrian  monument  of 
General  Jackson,  which  decorates  the  city  of  Washington. 
The  troops  of  McDowell's  division  were  already  drawn  up  on 
a  rugged  plain,  close  to  the  river's  margin,  in  happier  days  the 
scene  of  the  city  races.  A  pestilential  odor  rose  from  the 
slaughter-houses  close  at  hand,  but  regardless  of  odor  or 
marsh,  Walker  continued  his  violent  exercise,  evidently  under 
the  idea  that  he  was  assisting  at  a  retreat  of  the  grand  army 
as  before. 

Presently  General  McDowell  and  one  of  his  aides  cantered 
over,  and  whilst  waiting  for  General  McClellan,  he  talked  of 
the  fierce  outburst  directed  against  me  in  the  press.  "•  I  must 
confess,"  he  said  laughingly,  "  I  am  much  rejoiced  to  find  you 
are  as  much  abused  as  I  have  been.  I  hope  you  mind  it  as 
little  as  I  did.  Bull  Run  was  an  unfortunate  affair  for  both 
of  us,  for  had  I  won  it,  you  would  have  had  to  describe  the 


A  REVIEW.  507 

pursuit  of  the  flying  enemy,  and  then  you  would  have  been 
the  most  popular  writer  in  America,  and  I  would  have  been 
lauded  as  the  greatest  of  generals.  See  what  measure  has 
been  meted  to  us  now.  I'm  accused  of  drunkenness  and 
gambling,  and  you  Mr.  Russell  —  well!  —  I  really  do  hope 
you  are  not  so  black  as  you  are  painted."  Presently  a  cloud 
of  dust  on  the  road  announced  the  arrival  of  the  President, 
who  came  upon  the  ground  in  an  open  carriage,  with  Mr. 
Seward  by  his  side,  accompanied  by  General  McClellan  and 
his  staff  in  undress  uniform,  and  an  escort  of  the  very  dirtiest 
and  most  unsoldierly  dragoons,  with  filthy  accoutrements  and 
ungroomed  horses,  I  ever  saw.  The  troops  dressed  into  line 
and  presented  arms,  whilst  the  band  struck  up  the  "  Star- 
Spangled  Banner,"  as  the  Americans  have  got  no  air  which 
corresponds  with  our  National  Anthem,  or  is  in  any  way  com 
plimentary  to  the  quadrennial  despot  who  fills  the  President's 
chair. 

General  McDowell  seems  on  most  excellent  terms  with  the 
present  Commander-in-Chief,  as  he  is  with  the  President. 
Immediately  after  Bull  Run,  when  the  President  first  saw 
McDowell,  he  said  to  him,  "  I  have  not  lost  a  particle  of  con 
fidence  in  you,"  to  which  the  General  replied,  "  I  don't  see 
why  you  should,  Mr.  President."  But  there  was  a  curious 
commentary,  either  on  the  sincerity  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  or  in  his 
utter  subserviency  to  mob  opinion,  in  the  fact  that  he  who  can 
overrule  congress  and  act  pretty  much  as  he  pleases  in  time 
of  war,  had,  without  opportunity  for  explanation  or  demand 
for  it,  at  once  displaced  the  man  in  whom  he  still  retained  the 
fullest  confidence,  degraded  him  to  command  of  a  division  of 
the  army  of  which  he  had  been  General-in-Chief,  and  placed 
a  junior  officer  over  his  head. 

After  some  ordinary  movements,  the  march  past  took  place, 
which  satisfied  me  that  the  new  levies  were  very  superior  to 
the  three  months'  men,  though  far,  indeed,  from  being  soldiers. 
Finer  material  could  not  be  found  in  physique.  With  the  ex 
ception  of  an  assemblage  of  miserable  scarecrows  in  rags  and 
tatters,  swept  up  in  New  York  and  commanded  by  a  Mr.  Ker 
rigan,  no  division  of  the  ordinary  line,  in  any  army,  could  show 
a  greater  number  of  tall,  robust  men  in  the  prime  of  life.  A 
soldier  standing  near  me,  pointing  out  Kerrigan's  corps,  said, 
"  The  boy  who  commands  that  pretty  lot  recruited  them  first 
for  the  Seceshes  in  New  York,  but  finding  he  could  not  get 
them  away  he  handed  them  over  to  Uncle  Sam."  The  men 


508  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

were  silent  as  they  marched  past,  and  did  not  cheer  for  Presi 
dent  or  Union. 

I  returned  from  the  field  to  Arlington  House,  having  been 
invited  with  my  friend  to  share  the  General's  camp  dinner. 
On  our  way  along  the  road,  I  asked  Major  Brown  why  he  rode 
over  to  us  before  the  review  commenced.  "  Well,"  said  he, 
"  my  attention  was  called  to  you  by  one  of  our  staff  saying 
4  there  are  two  Englishmen,'  and  the  General  sent  me  over  to 
invite  them,  and  followed  when  he  saw  who  it  was."  "  But 
how  could  you  tell  we  were  English  ?  "  "I  don't  know,"  said 
he,  "  there  were  other  civilians  about,  but  there  was  something 
about  the  look  of  you  two  which  marked  you  immediately  as 
John  Bull." 

At  the  General's  tent  we  found  General  Sherman,  Generals 
Keyes,  Wadsworth,  and  some  others.  Dinner  was  spread  on 
a  table  covered  by  the  flap  of  the  tent,  and  consisted  of  good 
plain  fare,  and  a  dessert  of  prodigious  water-melons.  I  was 
exceedingly  gratified  to  hear  every  officer  present  declare  in 
the  presence  of  the  general  who  had  commanded  the  army, 
and  who  himself  said  no  words  could  exaggerate  the  disorder 
of  the  route,  that  my  narrative  of  Bull  Run  was  not  only 
true  but  moderate. 

General  Sherman,  whom  I  met  for  the  first  time,  said,  "  Mr. 
Russell,  I  can  indorse  every  word  that  you  wrote ;  your  state 
ments  about  the  battle,  which  you  say  you  did  not  witness,  are 
equally  correct.  All  the  stories  about  charging  batteries  and 
attacks  with  the  bayonet  are  simply  falsehoods,  so  far  as  my 
command  is  concerned,  though  some  of  the  troops  did  fight 
well.  As  to  cavalry  charges,  I  wish  we  had  had  a  few  cavalry 
to  have  tried  one ;  those  Black  Horse  fellows  seemed  as  if 
their  horses  ran  away  with  them."  General  Keyes  said, 
"  I  don't  think  you  made  it  half  bad  enough.  I  could  not  get 
the  men  to  stand  after  they  had  received  the  first  severe  check. 
The  enemy  swept  the  open  with  a  tremendous  musketry  fire. 
Some  of  our  men  and  portions  of  regiments  behaved  admirably 
—  we  drove  them  easily  at  first ;  the  cavalry  did  very  little 
indeed ;  but  when  they  did  come  on  I  could  not  get  the  in 
fantry  to  stand,  and  after  a  harmless  volley'  they  broke." 
These  officers  were  brigadiers  of  Tyler's  divis  ^n. 

The  conversation  turned  upon  the  influence  of  the  press  in 
America,  and  I  observed  that  every  soldier  at  table  spoke 
with  the  utmost  dislike  and  antipathy  of  the  New  York  jour 
nals,  to  which  they  gave  a  metropolitan  position,  although  each 


DR.  BRAY.  509 

man  had  some  favorite  paper  of  his  own  which  he  excepted 
from  the  charge  made  against  the  whole  body.  The  principal 
accusations  made  against  the  press  were  that  the  conductors 
are  not  gentlemen,  that  they  are  calumnious  and  corrupt,  re 
gardless  of  truth,  honor,  anything  but  circulation  and  adver 
tisements.  *'  It  is  the  first  time  we  have  had  a  chance  of 
dealing  with  these  fellows,  and  we  shall  not  lose  it." 

I  returned  to  Washington  at  dusk  over  the  Aqueduct  Bridge. 
A  gentleman,  who  introduced  himself  to  me  as  correspondent 
of  one  of  the  cheap  London  papers,  sent  out  specially  on 
account  of  his  great  experience  to  write  from  the  States,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  leaders  of  the  advanced  liberal  party,  came 
to  ask  if  I  had  seen  an  article  in  the  "  Chicago  Tribune,"  pur 
porting  to  be  written  by  a  gentleman  who  says  he  was  in  my 
company  during  the  retreat,  contradicting  what  I  report.  I 
was  advised  by  several  officers  —  whose  opinion  I  took  —  that 
it  would  be  derogatory  to  me  if  I  noticed  the  writer.  I  read 
it  over  carefully,  and  must  say  I  am  surprised  —  if  anything 
could  surprise  me  in  American  journalism  —  at  the  impudence 
and  mendacity  of  the  man.  Having  first  stated  that  he  rode 
along  with  me  from  point  to  point  at  a  certain  portion  of  the 
road,  he  states  that  he  did  not  hear  or  see  certain  things  which 
I  say  that  I  saw  and  heard,  or  deliberately  falsifies  what  passed, 
for  the  sake  of  a  little  ephemeral  applause,  quotations  in  the 
papers,  increased  importance  to  himself,  and  some  more  abuse 
of  the  English  correspondent. 

This  statement  made  me  recall  the  circumstance  alluded  to 
more  particularly.  I  remember  well  the  flurried,  plethoric, 
elderly  man,  mounted  on  a  broken-down  horse,  who  rode  up 
to  me  in  great  trepidation,  with  sweat  streaming  over  his  face, 
and  asked  me  if  I  was  going  into  Washington.  "  You  may 
not  recollect  me,  sir;  I  was  introduced  to  you  at  Cay-roe,  in 
the  hall  of  the  hotel.  I'm  Dr.  Bray,  of  the  '  Chicago  Tribune.' " 
I  certainly  did  not  remember  him,  but  I  did  recollect  that  a 
despatch  from  Cairo  appeared  in  the  paper,  announcing  my 
arrival  from  the  South,  and  stating  I  complained  on  landing 
that  my  letters  had  been  opened  in  the  States,  which  was  quite 
untrue  and  which  I  felt  called  on  to  deny,  and  supposing  Dr. 
Bray  to  be  ti.y^  author  I  was  not  at  all  inclined  to  cement  our 
acquaintance,  and  continued  my  course  with  a  bow. 

But  the  doctor  whipped  his  steed  up  along-side  mine,  and 
went  on  to  tell  me  that  he  was  in  the  most  terrible  bodily  pain 
and  mental  anxiety.  The  first  on  account  of  desuetude  of 


510  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

equestrian  exercise ;  the  other  on  account  of  the  defeat  of  the 
Federals  and  the  probable  pursuit  of  the  Confederates.  "  Oh  ! 
it's  dreadful  to  think  of  !  They  know  me  well,  and  would  show 
me  no  mercy.  Every  step  the  horse  takes  I'm  in  agony.  I'll 
never  get  to  Washington.  Could  you  stay  with  me,  sir  ?  as 
you  know  the  road."  I  was  moved  to  internal  chuckling,  at 
any  rate,  by  the  very  prostrate  condition  —  for  he  bent  well  over 
the  saddle  —  of  poor  Dr.  Bray,  and  so  I  said  to  him,  "Don't 
be  uneasy,  sir.  There  is  no  fear  of  your  being  taken.  The 
army  is  not  defeated,  in  spite  of  what  you  see  ;  for  there  will 
be  always  runaways  and  skulkers  when  a  retreat  is  ordered. 
I  have  not  the  least  doubt  McDowell  will  stand  fast  at  Cen- 
treville,  and  rally  his  troops  to-night  on  the  reserve,  so  as  to 
be  in  a  good  position  to  resist  the  enemy  to-morrow.  I'll  have 
to  push  on  to  Washington,  as  I  must  write  my  letters,  and  I 
fear  they  will  stop  me  on  the  bridge  without  the  countersign, 
particularly  if  these  runaways  should  outstrip  us.  As  to  your 
skin,  pour  a  little  whiskey  on  some  melted  tallow  and  rub  it 
well  in,  and  you'll  be  all  right  to-morrow  or  next  day  as  far  as 
that  is  concerned." 

I  actually,  out  of  compassion  to  his  sufferings  —  for  he  uttered 
cries  now  and  then  as  though  Lucina  were  in  request  —  reined 
up,  and  walked  my  horse,  though  most  anxious  to  get  out  of 
the  dust  and  confusion  of  the  runaways,  and  comforted  him 
about  a  friend  whom  he  missed,  and  for  whose  fate  he  was  as 
uneasy  as  the  concern  he  felt  for  his  own  woes  permitted  him 
to  be ;  suggested  various  modes  to  him  of  easing  the  jolt  and 
of  quickening  the  pace  of  his  steed,  and  at  last  really  bored 
excessively  by  an  uninteresting  and  self-absorbed  companion, 
who  was  besides  detaining  me  needlessly  on  the  road,  I  turned 
on  some  pretence  into  a  wood  by  the  side  and  continued  my 
way  as  well  as  I  could,  till  I  got  off  the  track,  and  being  guided 
to  the  road  by  the  dust  and  shouting,  I  came  out  on  it  some 
where  near  Fairfax  Court,  and  there,  to  my  surprise,  dropped 
on  the  Doctor,  who,  animated  by  some  agency  more  power 
ful  than  the  pangs  of  an  abraded  cuticle  and  taking  advantage 
of  the  road,  had  got  thus  far  ahead.  We  entered  the  place 
together,  halted  at  the  same  inn  to  water  our  horses,  and  then 
seeing  that  it  was  getting  on  towards  dusk  and  that  the  wave 
of  the  retreat  was  rolling  onward  in  increased  volume,  I 
pushed  on  and  saw  no  more  of  him.  Ungrateful  Bray  !  Per 
fidious  Bray  !  Some  day,  when  I  have  time,  I  must  tell  the 
people  of  Chicago  how  Bray  got  into  Washington,  and  how  he 


MR.  MEAGHER.  511 

left  his  horse  and  what  he  did  with  it,  and  how  Bray  behaved 
on  the  road.  I  dare  say  they  who  know  him  can  guess. 

The  most  significant  article  I  have  seen  for  some  time  as  a 
test  of  the  taste,  tone,  and  temper  of  the  New  York  public, 
judging  by  their  most  widely  read  journal,  is  contained  in  it 
to-night.  It  appears  that  a  gentleman  named  Muir,  who  is 
described  as  a  relative  of  Mr.  Mure  the  consul  at  New 
Orleans,  was  seized  on  the  point  of  starting  for  Europe,  and 
that  among  his  papers,  many  of  which  were  of  a  "disloyal 
character,"  which  is  not  astonishing  seeing  that  he  came  from 
Charleston,  was  a  letter  written  by  a  foreign  resident  in  that 
city,  in  which  he  stated  he  had  seen  a  letter  from  me  to  Mr. 
Bunch  describing  the  flight  at  Bull  Run,  and  adding  that 
Lord  Lyons  remarked,  when  he  heard  of  it,  he  would  ask  Mr. 
Seward  whether  he  would  not  now  admit  the  Confederates 
were  a  belligerent  power,  whereupon  Maudit  calls  on  Mr. 
Seward  to  demand  explanations  from  Lord  Lyons  and  to  turn 
me  out  of  the  country,  because  in  my  letter  to  the  k'  Times  "  I 
made  the  remark  that  the  United  States  would  probably  now 
admit  the  South  were  a  belligerent  power. 

Such  an  original  observation  could  never  have  occurred  to 
two  people  —  genius  concerting  with  genius  could  alone  have 
hammered  it  out.  But  Maudit  is  not  satisfied  with  the  hu 
miliation  of  Lord  Lyons  and  the  expulsion  of  myself — he 
absolutely  insists  upon  a  miracle,  and  his  moral  vision  being 
as  perverted  as  his  physical,  he  declares  that  I  must  have  sent 
to  the  British  Consul  at  Charleston  a  duplicate  copy  of  the 
letter  which  I  furnished  with  so  much  labor  and  difficulty  just 
in  time  to  catch  the  mail  by  special  messenger  from  Boston. 
"  These  be  thy  gods,  O  Israel !  " 

My  attention  was  also  directed  to  a  letter  from  certain  offi 
cers  of  the  disbanded  69th  Regiment,  who  had  permitted  their 
Colonel  to  be  dragged  away  a  prisoner  from  the  field  of  Bull 
Run.  Without  having  read  my  letter,  these  gentlemen  as 
sumed  that  I  had  stigmatized  Captain  T.  F.  Meagher  as  one 
who  had  misconducted  himself  during  the  battle,  whereas  all 
I  had  said  on  the  evidence  of  eye-witnesses  was,  "  that  in  the 
rout  he  appeared  at  Centreville  running  across  country  and 
uttering  exclamations  in  the  hearing  of  my  informant,  which 
indicated  that  he  at  least  was  perfectly  satisfied  that  the  Con 
federates  had  established  their  claims  to  be  considered  a  bel 
ligerent  power."  These  officers  state  that  Captain  Meagher 
behaved  extremely  well  up  to  a  certain  point  in  the  engage- 


512  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

ment  when  they  lost  sight  of  him,  and  from  which  period  they 
could  say  nothing  about  him.  It  was  subsequent  to  that  very 
time  he  appeared  at  Centreville,  and  long  before  rny  letter 
returned  to  America  giving  credit  to  Captain  Meagher  for 
natural  gallantry  in  the  field.  I  remarked  that  he  would  no 
doubt  feel  as  much  pained  as  any  of  his  friends,  at  the  ridicule 
cast  upon  him  by  the  statement  that  he,  the  Captain  of  a  com 
pany,  "  Went  into  action  mounted  on  a  magnificent  charger 
and  waving  a  green  silk  flag  embroidered  with  a  golden  harp 
in  the  face  of  the  enemy." 

A  young  man  wearing  the  Indian  war  medal  with  two 
clasps,  who  said  his  name  was  Maclvor  Hilstock,  came  in 
to  inquire  after  some  unknown  friend  of  his.  He  told  me  he 
had  been  in  Tomb's  troop  of  Artillery  during  the  Indian  mu 
tiny,  and  had  afterwards  served  with  the  French  volunteers 
during  the  siege  of  Caprera.  The  news  of  the  Civil  War  has 
produced  such  an  immigration  of  military  adventurers  from 
Europe  that  the  streets  of  Washington  are  quite  filled  with 
medals  and  ribbons.  The  regular  officers  of  the  American 
army  regard  them  with  considerable  dislike,  the  greater  in 
asmuch  as  Mr.  Seward  and  the  politicians  encourage  them. 
In  alluding  to  the  circumstance  to  General  McDowell,  who 
came  in  to  see  me  at  a  late  dinner,  I  said,  "  A  great  many 
Garibaldians  are  in  Washington  just  now."  "  Oh,"  said  he 
in  his  quiet  way,  "  it  will  be  quite  enough  for  a  man  to  prove 
that  he  once  saw  Garibaldi  to  satisfy  us  in  Washington  that 
he  is  quite  fit  for  the  command  of  a  regiment.  I  have  recom 
mended  a  man  because  he  sailed  in  the  ship  which  Garibaldi 
came  in  over  hefe,  and  I'm  sure  it  will  be  attended  to." 

August  27th.  —  Fever  and  ague,  which  Gen.  McDowell 
attributes  to  water-melons,  of  which  he,  however,  had  eaten 
three  times  as  much  as  I  had.  Swallowed  many  grains  of 
quinine,  and  lay  panting  in  the  heat  in-doors.  Two  English 
visitors,  Mr.  Lamy  and  a  Captain  of  the  17th,  called  on  me  ; 
and,  afterwards,  I  had  a  conversation  with  M.  Mercier  and 
M.  Stoeckl  on  the  aspect  of  affairs.  They  are  inclined  to 
look  forward  to  a  more  speedy  solution  than  I  think  the  North 
is  weak  enough  to  accept.  I  believe  that  peace  is  possible  in 
two  years  or  so,  but  only  by  the  concession  to  the  South  of  a 
qualified  independence.  The  naval  operations  of  the  Fed 
erals  will  test  the  Southern  mettle  to  the  utmost.  Plaving  a 
sincere  regard  and  liking  for  many  of  the  Southerners  whom 
I  have  met,  I  cannot  say  their  cause,  or  its  origin,  or  its  aim, 


THE  RESULT  OF  FEDERAL  SUCCESS.       513 

recommends  itself  to  my  sympathies  ;  and  yet  I  am  accused  of 
aiding  it  by  every  means  in  my  power,  because  I  do  not  re 
echo  the  arrogant  and  empty  boasting  arid  insolent  outbursts 
of  the  people  in  the  North,  who  threaten,  as  the  first-fruits  of 
their  success,  to  invade  the  territories  subject  to  the  British 
crown,  and  to  outrage  and  humiliate  our  flag. 

It  is  melancholy  enough  to  see  this  great  republic  tumbling 
to  pieces  ;  one  would  regret  it  all  the  more  but  for  the  fact 
that  it  reechoed  the  voices  of  the  obscene  and  filthy  creatures 
which  have  been  driven  before  the  lash  of  the  lictor  from  alt 
the  cities  of  Europe.  Assuredly  it  was  a  great  work,  but  all 
its  greatness  and  the  idea  of  its  life  was  of  man,  not  of  God. 
The  principle  of  veneration,  of  obedience,  of  subordination, 
and  self-control  did  not  exist  within.  Washington-worship 
could  not  save  it.  The  elements  of  destruction  lay  equally 
sized,  smooth,  and  black  at  its  foundations,  and  a  spark  suffi 
ces  to  blow  the  structure  into  the  air. 

August  28th.  —  Raining.  Sundry  officers  turned  in  to  in 
quire  of  me,  who  was  quietly  in  bed  at  Washington,  concern 
ing  certain  skirmishes  reported  to  have  taken  place  last  night. 
Sold  one  horse  and  bought  another  ;  that  is,  I  paid  ready 
money  in  the  latter  transaction,  and  in  the  former,  received  an 
order  from  an  officer  on  the  paymaster  of  his  regiment,  on  a 
certain  day  not  yet  arrived. 

To-day,  Lord  A.  V.  Tempest  is  added  to  the  number  of 
English  arrivals  ;  he  amused  me  by  narrating  his  reception  at 
Willard's  on  the  night  of  his  arrival.  When  he  came  in  with 
the  usual  ruck  of  passengers,  he  took  his  turn  at  the  book,  and 
wrote  down  Lord  Adolphus  Vane  Tempest,  with  possibly 
M.  P.  after  it.  The  clerk,  who  was  busily  engaged  in  show 
ing  that  he  was  perfectly  indifferent  to  the  claims  of  the 
crowd  who  were  waiting  at  the  counter  for  their  rooms,  when 
the  book  was  finished,  commenced  looking  over  the  names  of 
the  various  persons,  such  as  Leonidas  Buggs,  Rome,  N.  Y. ; 
Doctor  Onesiphorous  Bowells,  D.  D.,  Syracuse  ;  Olynthus 
Craggs,  Palmyra,  Mo. ;  Washington  Whilkes,  Indianopolis, 
writing  down  the  numbers  of  the  rooms,  and  handing  over  the 
keys  to  the  waiters  at  the  same  time.  When  he  came  to  the 
name  of  the  English  nobleman,  he  said,  "  Vane  Tempest,  No. 
125."  "But  stop,"  cried  Lord  Adolphus.  "  Lycurgus  Sic- 
cles,"  continued  the  clerk,  "  No.  23."  "  I  insist  upon  it,  sir," 
—  broke  in  Lord  Adolphus,  —  "  you  really  must  hear  me. 
I  protest  against  being  put  in  125.  I  can't  go  up  so  high." 
22* 


514=  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

"  Why,"  said  the  clerk,  with  infinite  contempt.  "  I  can  put 
you  at  twice  as  high  —  I'll  give  you  No.  250  if  I  like."  This 
was  rather  too  much,  and  Lord  Adolphus  put  his  tilings  into 
a  cab,  and  drove  about  Washington  until  he  got  to  earth  in 
the  two-pair  back  of  a  dentist's,  for  which  no  doubt,  tout  vu, 
he  paid  as  much  as  for  an  apartment  at  the  Hotel  Bristol. 

A  gathering  of  American  officers  and  others,  amongst  whom 
was  Mr.  Olmsted,  enabled  him  to  form  some  idea  of  the  young 
men's  society  of  Washington,  which  is  a  strange  mixture  of 
politics  and  fighting,  gossip,  gayety,  and  a  certain  apprehension 
of  a  wrath  to  come  for  their  dear  republic.  Here  is  Olmsted 
prepared  to  lay  down  his  life  for  free  speech  over  a  united  re 
public,  in  one  part  of  which  his  freedom  of  speech  would  lead 
to  irretrievable  confusion  and  ruin  ;  whilst  Wise,  on  the  other 
hand,  seeks  only  to  establish  a  union  which  shall  have  a  large 
fleet,  be  powerful  at  sea,  and  be  able  to  smash  up  Abolitionists, 
newspaper  people,  and  political  agitators  at  home. 

August  29th.  —  It  is  hard  to  bear  such  a  fate  as  befalls  an 
unpopular  man  in  the  United  States,  because  in  no  other  coun 
try,  as  De  Tocqueville  *  remarks,  is  the  press  so  powerful 
when  it  is  unanimous.  And  yet  he  says,  too,  "  The  journal 
ist  of  the  United  States  is  usually  placed  in  a  very  humble 
position,  with  a  scanty  education  and  a  vulgar  turn  of  mind. 
His  characteristics  consist  of  an  open  and  coarse  appeal  to 
the  passions  of  the  populace,  and  he  habitually  abandons  the 
principles  of  political  science  to  assail  the  characters  of  indi 
viduals,  to  track  them  into  private  life,  and  disclose  all  their 
weaknesses  and  errors.  The  individuals  who  are  already  in 
possession  of  a  high  station  in  the  esteem  of  their  fellow-citi 
zens  are  afraid  to  write  in  the  newspapers,  and  they  are  thus 
deprived  of  the  most  powerful  instrument  which  they  can  use 
to  excite  the  passions  of  the  multitude  to  their  advantage. 
The  personal  opinions  of  the  editors  have  no  kind  of  weight 
in  the  eyes  of  the  public.  The  only  use  of  a  journal  is,  that 
it  imparts  the  knowledge  of  certain  facts;  and  it  is  only  by 
altering  and  distorting  those  facts  that  a  journalist  can  contrib 
ute  to  the  support  of  his  own  views."  When  the  whole  of 
the  press,  without  any  exception  in  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  sets 
deliberately  to  work,  in  order  to  calumniate,  vilify,  insult,  and 
abuse  a  man  who  is  at  once  a  stranger,  a  rival,  and  an  Eng 
lishman,  he  may  expect  but  one  result,  according  to  De  Toc 
queville. 

*  P.  200,  Spencer's  American  edition,  New  York,  1858. 


THE   18TH  MASSACHUSETTS.  515 

The  teeming  anonymous  letters  I  receive  are  filled  with 
threats  of  assassination,  tarring,  feathering,  and  the  like  ;  and 
one  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  literary  sbirri  is  in  perfect  rap 
ture  at  the  notion  of  a  new  "  sensation  "  heading,  for  which  he 
is  working  as  hard  as  he  can.  I  have  no  intention  to  add  to 
the  number  of  his  castigations. 

In  the  afternoon  I  drove  to  the  waste  grounds  beyond  the 
Capitol,  in  company  with  Mr.  Olmsted  and  Captain  Haworth, 
to  see  the  18th  Massachusetts  Regiment,  who  had  just  marched 
in,  and  were  pitching  their  tents  very  probably  for  the  first 
time.  They  arrived  from  their  State  with  camp  equipments, 
wagons,  horses,  harness,  commissariat  stores  complete,  and 
were  clad  in  the  blue  uniform  of  the  United  States  ;  for  the 
volunteer  fancies  in  grays  and  greens  are  dying  out.  The  men 
were  uncommonly  stout  young  fellows,  with  an  odd,  slouching, 
lounging  air  about  some  of  them,  however,  which  I  could  not 
quite  understand  till  I  heard  one  sing  out,  "  Hallo,  sergeant, 
where  am  I  to  sling  my  hammock  in  this  tent  ?  "  Many  of 
them,  in  fact,  are  fishermen  and  sailors  from  Cape  Cod,  New 
Haven,  and  similar  maritime  places. 


CHAPTER  LV. 

Personal  unpopularity  —  American  naval  officers  —  A  gun  levelled  at 
me  in  fun  —  Increase  of  odium  against  me  —  Success  of  the  Hat- 
teras  expedition  —  General  Scott  and  McClellan — McClellan  on 
his  camp-bed  —  General  Scott's  pass  refused  —  Prospect  of  an  at 
tack  on  Washington  —  Skirmishing  —  Anonymous  letters  —  Gen 
eral  Halleck  —  General  McClellan  and  the  Sabbath  —  Rumored 
death  of  Jefferson  Davis  —  Spread  of  my  unpopularity  —  An  offer 
for  my  horse  —  Dinner  at  the  Legation  —  Discussion  on  Slavery. 

August  31st. — A  month  during  which  I  have  been  exposed 
to  more  calumny,  falsehood,  not  to  speak  of  danger,  than  I 
ever  passed  through,  has  been  brought  to  a  close.  I  have  all 
the  pains  and  penalties  attached  to  the  digito  monstrari  et 
dicier  hie  est,  in  the  most  hostile  sense.  On  going  into  Wil- 
lard's  the  other  day,  I  said  to  the  clerk  behind  the  bar,  "•  Why 
I  heard,  Mr.  So-and-so,  you  were  gone  ? "  "  Well,  sir,  I'm 
not.  If  I  was,  you  would  have  lost  the  last  man  who  is  ready 
to  say  a  word  for  you  in  this  house,  I  can  tell  you."  Scowl 
ing  faces  on  every  side  —  women  turning  up  their  pretty  little 
noses  —  people  turning  round  in  the  streets,  or  stopping  to 
stare  in  front  of  me  —  the  proprietors  of  the  shops  where  I  am 
known  pointing  me  out  to  others  ;  the  words  uttered,  in  vari 
ous  tones,  "  So,  that's  Bull-Run  Russell !  "  — for,  oddly  enough, 
the  Americans  seem  to  think  that  a  disgrace  to  their  arms  be 
comes  diminished  by  fixing  the  name  of  the  scene  as  a  sobriquet 
on  one  who  described  it  —  these,  with  caricatures,  endless 
falsehoods,  rumors  of  duels,  and  the  like,  form  some  of  the 
little  desagremens  of  one  who  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  assist 
at  the  retreat,  the  first  he  had  ever  seen,  of  an  army  which  it 
would  in  all  respects  have  suited  him  much  better  to  have 
seen  victorious. 

I  dined  with  Lieutenant  Wise,  and  met  Captain  Dahlgren, 

Captain  Davis,  U.  S.  N.,  Captain  Foote,  U.  S.  N.,  and  Colonel 

Fletcher  Webster,*  son  of  the  great  American  statesman,  now 

commanding  a  regiment  of  volunteers.     The  latter  has  a  fine 

*  Since  killed  in  action. 


AMERICAN  NAVAL  OFFICERS.  517 

head  and  face ;  a  full,  deep  eye  ;  is  quaint  and  dry  in  his  con 
versation,  and  a  poet,  I  should  think,  in  heart  and  soul,  if  out 
ward  and  visible  signs  may  be  relied  on.  The  naval  captains 
were  excellent  specimens  of  the  accomplished  and  able  men 
who  belong  to  the  United  States  Navy.  Foote,  who  is  desig 
nated  to  the  command  of  the  flotilla  which  is  to  clear  the  Mis 
sissippi  downwards,  will,  I  am  certain,  do  good  service  —  a 
calm,  energetic,  skilful  officer.  Dahlgren,  who,  like  all  men 
with  a  system,  very  properly  watches  everything  which  bears 
upon  it,  took  occasion  to  call  for  Captain  Foote's  testimony  to 
the  fact,  that  he  battered  down  a  six-foot  granite  wall  in  China 
with  Dahlgren  shells.  It  will  run  hard  against  the  Confeder 
ates  when  they  get  such  men  at  work  on  the  rivers  and  coasts, 
for  they  seern  to  understand  their  business  thoroughly,  and  all 
they  are  not  quite  sure  of  is  the  readiness  of  the  land  forces 
to  cooperate  with  their  expeditionary  movements.  Incident 
ally  I  learned  from  the  conversation  —  and  it  is  a  curious 
illustration  of  the  power  of  the  President  —  that  it  was  he 
who  ordered  the  attack  on  Charleston  harbor,  or,  to  speak 
with  more  accuracy,  the  movement  of  the  armed  squadron  to 
relieve  Sumter  by  force,  if  necessary  ;  and  that  he  came  to 
the  conclusion  it  was  feasible  principally  from  reading  the  ac 
count  of  the  attack  on  Kinburn  by  the  allied  fleets.  There 
was  certainly  an  immense  disproportion  between  the  relative 
means  of  attack  and  defence  in  the  two  cases ;  but,  at  all 
events,  the  action  of  the  Confederates  prevented  the  attempt. 
September  1st. — Took  a  ride  early  this  morning  over  the 
Long  Bridge.  As  I  was  passing  out  of  the  earthwork  called 
a  fort  on  the  hill,  a  dirty  German  soldier  called  out  from  the 
parapet,  "  Pull-Run  Russell !  you  shall  never  write  Pull's  Runs 
again,"  and  at  the  same  time  cocked  his  piece  and  levelled  it 
at  me.  I  immediately  rode  round  into  the  fort,  the  fellow  still 
presenting  his  firelock,  and  asked  him  what  he  meant,  at  the 
same  time  calling  for  the  sergeant  of  the  guard,  who  came  at 
once,  and,  at  my  request,  arrested  the  man,  who  recovered 
arms,  and  said,  "It  was  a  choake  —  I  vant  to  freeken  Pull- 
Run  Russell."  However,  as  his  rifle  was  capped  and  loaded, 
and  on  full  cock,  with  his  finger  on  the  trigger,  I  did  not  quite 
see  the  fun  of  it,  and  I  accordingly  had  the  man  marched  to 
the  tent  of  the  officer,  who  promised  to  investigate  the  case, 
and  make  a  formal  report  of  it  to  the  brigadier,  on  my  return 
to  lay  the  circumstances  before  him.  On  reflection  I  resolved 
that  it  was  best  to  let  the  matter  drop ;  the  joke  might  spread, 


518  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

and  it  was  quite  unpleasant  enough  as  it  was  to  bear  the  inso 
lent  looks  and  scowling  faces  of  the  guards  at  the  posts,  to 
whom  I  was  obliged  to  exhibit  my  pass  whenever  I  went  out 
to  ride. 

On  my  return  I  heard  of  the  complete  success  of  the  Hat- 
teras  expedition,  which  shelled  out  and  destroyed  some  sand 
batteries  guarding  the  entrance  to  the  great  inland  sea  and 
navigation  called  Pamlico  Sound,  in  North  Carolina,  furnish 
ing  access  to  coasters  for  many  miles  into  the  Confederate 
States,  and  most  useful  to  them  in  forwarding  supplies  and 
keeping  up  communications  throughout.  The  force  was  com 
manded  by  General  Butler,  who  has  come  to  Washington  with 
the  news,  and  has  already  made  his  speech  to  the  mob  outside 
AVillard's.  I  called  down  to  see  him,  but  he  had  gone  over  to 
call  on  the  President.  The  people  were  jubilant,  and  one 
might  have  supposed  Hatteras  was  the  key  to  Richmond  or 
Charleston,  from  the  way  they  spoke  of  this  unparalleled  ex 
ploit. 

There  is  a  little  French  gentleman  here  against  whom  the 
fates  bear  heavily.  I  have  given  him  employment  as  an 
amanuensis  and  secretary  for  some  time  back,  and  he  tells  me 
many  things  concerning  the  talk  in  the  city  which  I  do  not 
hear  myself,  from  which  it  would  seem  that  there  is  an  in 
crease  of  ill-feeling  towards  me  every  day,  and  that  I  am  a 
convenient  channel  for  concentrating  all  the  abuse  and  hatred 
so  long  cherished  against  England.  I  was  a  little  tickled  by 
an  account  he  gave  me  of  a  distinguished  lady,  who  sent  for 
him  to  give  French  lessons,  in  order  that  she  might  become 
equal  to  her  high  position  in  mastering  the  difficulties  of  the 
courtly  tongue.  I  may  mention  the  fact,  as  it  was  radiated  by 
the  press  through  all  the  land,  that  Mrs.  M.  N.,  having  once 
on  a  time  "  been  proficient  in  the  language,  has  forgotten  it  in 
the  lapse  of  years,  but  has  resolved  to  renew  her  studies,  that 
she  may  better  discharge  the  duties  of  her  elevated  station." 
The  master  went  to  the  house  and  stated  his  terms  to  a  lady 
whom  he  saw  there ;  but  as  she  marchanded  a  good  deal 
over  small  matters  of  cents,  he  never  supposed  he  was  deal 
ing  with  the  great  lady,  and  therefore  made  a  small  reduction 
in  his  terms,  which  encouraged  the  enemy  to  renew  the  assault 
till  he  stood  firmly  on  three  shillings  a  lesson,  at  which  point 
the  lady  left  him,  with  the  intimation  that  she  would  consider 
the  matter  and  let  him  know.  And  now,  the  licentiate  tells 
me,  it  has  become  known  he  is  my  private  secretary,  he  is  not 


THE  TWO   GENERALS.  519 

considered  eligible  to  do  avoir  and  etre  for  the  satisfaction  of 
the  good  lady,  who  really  is  far  better  than  her  friends  de 
scribe  her  to  be. 

September  2d.  —  It  would  seem  as  if  the  North  were  per 
fectly  destitute  of  common  sense.  Here  they  are  as  rampant 
because  they  have  succeeded  with  an  overwhelming  fleet  in 
shelling  out  the  defenders  of  some  poor  unfinished  earthworks, 
on  a  spit  of  sand  on  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  as  if  they 
had  already  crushed  the  Southern  rebellion.  They  affect  to 
consider  this  achievement  a  counterpoise  to  Bull  Run. 

Surely  the  press  cannot  represent  the  feelings  of  the  staid 
and  thinking  masses  of  the  Northern  States  !  The  success  is 
unquestionably  useful  to  the  Federalists,  but  it  no  more  adds 
to  their  chances  of  crushing  the  Confederacy,  than  shooting 
off  the  end  of  an  elephant's  tail  contributes  to  the  hunter's 
capture  of  the  animal. 

An  officious  little  person,  who  was  buzzing  about  here  as 
correspondent  of  a  London  newspaper,  made  himself  agree 
able  by  coming  with  a  caricature  of  my  humble  self  at  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  in  a  laborious  and  most  unsuccessful  imi 
tation  of  "  Punch,"  in  which  I  am  represented  with  rather  a 
flattering  face  and  figure,  seated  before  a  huge  telescope,  sur 
rounded  by  bottles  of  London  stout,  and  looking  at  the  fight. 
This  is  supposed  to  be  very  humorous  and  amusing,  and  my 
good-natured  friend  was  rather  astonished  when  I  cut  it  out 
and  inserted  it  carefully  in  a  scrap-book,  opposite  a  sketch 
from  fancy  of  the  New  York  Fire  Zouaves  charging  a  battery 
and  routing  a  regiment  of  cavalry,  which  appeared  last  week 
in  a  much  more  imaginative  and  amusing  periodical,  which 
aspires  to  describe  with  pen  and  pencil  the  actual  current 
events  of  the  war. 

Going  out  for  my  usual  ride  to-day,  I  saw  General  Scott, 
between  two  aide-de-camps,  slowly  pacing  homewards  from 
the  War  Office.  He  is  still  Commander-in -Chief  of  the  army, 
and  affects  to  direct  movements  and  to  control  the  disposition 
of  the  troops,  but  a  power  greater  than  his  increases  steadily 
at  General  McClellan's  head-quarters.  For  my  own  part  I 
confess  that  General  McClellan  does  not  appear  to  me  a  man 
of  action,  or,  at  least,  a  man  who  intends  to  act  as  speedily  as 
the  crisis  demands.  He  should  be  out  with  his  army  across 
the  Potomac,  living  among  his  generals,  studying  the  compo 
sition  of  his  army,  investigating  its  defects,  and,  above  all, 
showing  himself  to  the  men  as  soon  afterwards  as  possible,  if 


520  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

he  cannot  be  with  them  at  the  time,  in  the  small  affairs  which 
constantly  occur  along  the  front,  and  never  permitting  them  to 
receive  a  blow  without  taking  care  that  they  give  at  least  two 
in  return.  General  Scott,  jam  fracta  membra  labore,  would 
do  all  the  work  of  departments  and  superintendence  admira 
bly  well ;  but,  as  Montesquieu  taught  long  ago,  faction  and 
intrigue  are  the  cancers  which  peculiarly  eat  into  the  body 
politic  of  republics,  and  McClellan  fears,  no  doubt,  that  his 
absence  from  the  capital,  even  though  he  went  but  across  the 
river,  would  animate  his  enemies  to  undermine  and  supplant 
him. 

I  have  heard  several  people  say  lately,  "  I  wish  old  Scott 
would  go  away,"  by  which  they  mean  that  they  would  be 
happy  to  strike  him  down  when  his  back  was  turned,  but 
feared  his  personal  influence  with  the  President  and  his  Cabi 
net.  Two  months  ago  and  his  was  the  most  honored  name  in 
the  States  :  one  was  sickened  by  the  constant  repetition  of 
elaborate  plans,  in  which  the  General  was  represented  playing 
the  part  of  an  Indian  juggler,  and  holding  an  enormous  boa 
constrictor  of  a  Federal  army  in  his  hands,  which  he  was 
preparing  to  let  go  as  soon  as  he  had  coiled  it  completely 
round  the  frightened  Secessionist  rabbit ;  "  now  none  so  poor 
to  do  him  reverence."  Hard  is  the  fate  of  those  who  serve 
republics.  The  officers  who  met  the  old  man  in  the  street 
to-day  passed  him  by  without  a  salute  or  mark  of  recognition, 
although  he  wore  his  uniform  coat,  with  yellow  lapels  and 
yellow  sash ;  and  one  of  a  group  which  came  out  of  a  restau 
rant  close  to  the  General's  house,  exclaimed,  almost  in  his 
hearing,  "  Old  fuss-and-feathers  don't  look  first-rate  to-day." 

In  the  evening  I  went  with  a  Scotch  gentleman,  who  was 
formerly  acquainted  with  General  McClellan  when  he  was 
superintendent  of  the  Central  Illinois  Railway,  to  his  head 
quarters,  which  are  in  the  house  of  Captain  Wilkes  at  the 
corner  of  President  Square,  near  Mr.  Seward's  and  not  far 
from  the  spot  where  General  Sickles  shot  down  the  unhappy 
man  who  had  temporarily  disturbed  the  peace  of  his  domestic 
relations.  The  parlors  were  full  of  officers,  smoking,  reading 
the  papers,  and  writing,  and  after  a  short  conversation  with 
General  Marcy,  Chief  of  the  Staff,  Van  Vliet,  aide-de-camp 
of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  led  the  way  up-stairs  to  the  top 
of  the  house,  where  we  found  General  McClellan,  just  returned 
from  a  long  ride,  and  seated  in  his  shirt-sleeves  on  the  side  of 
his  carnp-bed.  He  looked  better  than  I  have  yet  seen  him, 


GENERAL  M'CLELLAN  AT  HOME.  521 

j 

for  his  dress  showed  to  advantage  the  powerful,  compact  for 
mation  of  his  figure,  massive  throat,  well-set  head,  and  muscu 
lar  energy  of  his  frame.  Nothing  could  be  more  agreeable  or 
easy  than  his  manner.  In  his  clear,  dark-blue  eye  was  no 
trace  of  uneasiness  or  hidden  purpose;  but  his  mouth,  covered 
by  a  short,  thick  mustache,  rarely  joins  in  the  smile  that 
overspreads  his  face  when  he  is  animated  by  telling  or  hear 
ing  some  matter  of  interest.  Telegraph  wires  ran  all  about 
the  house,  and  as  we  sat  round  the  General's  table,  despatches 
were  repeatedly  brought  in  from  the  generals  in  the  front. 
Sometimes  McClellan  laid  down  his  cigar  and  went  off  to 
study  a  large  map  of  the  position,  which  was  fixed  to  the  wall 
close  to  the  head  of  his  bed  ;  but  more  frequently  the  contents 
of  the  despatches  caused  him  to  smile  or  to  utter  some  excla 
mation,  which  gave  one  an  idea  that  he  did  not  attach  much 
importance  to  the  news,  and  had  not  great  faith  in  the  reports 
received  from  his  subordinate  officers,  who  are  always  under 
the  impression  that  the  enemy  are  coming  on  in  force. 

It  is  plain  the  General  has  got  no  high  opinion  of  volunteer 
officers  and  soldiers.  In  addition  to  unsteadiness  in  action, 
which  arises  from  want  of  confidence  in  the  officers  as  much 
as  from  any  other  cause,  the  men  labor  under  the  great  defect 
of  exceeding  rashness,  a  contempt  for  the  most  ordinary  pre 
cautions  and  a  liability  to  unaccountable  alarms  and  credulous- 
ness  of  false  report ;  but,  admitting  all  these  circumstances, 
McClellan  has  a  soldier's  faith  in  gros  bataillons,  and  sees  no 
doubt  of  ultimate  success  in  a  military  point  of  view,  provided 
the  politicians  keep  quiet,  and,  charming  men  as  they  are, 
cease  to  meddle  with  things  they  don't  understand.  Although 
some  very  good  officers  have  deserted  the  United  States  army 
and  are  now  with  the  Confederates,  a  very  considerable  ma 
jority  of  West  Point  officers  have  adhered  to  the  Federals. 
I  am  satisfied,"  by  an  actual  inspection  of  the  lists,  that  the 
Northerners  retain  the  same  preponderance  in  officers  who 
have  received  a  military  education,  as  they  possess  in  wealth 
and  other  means,  and  resources  for  carrying  on  the  war. 

The  General  consumes  tobacco  largely,  and  not  only  smokes 
cigars,  but  indulges  in  the  more  naked  beauties  of  a  quid.  From 
tobacco  we  wandered  to  the  Crimea,  and  thence  went  half 
round  the  world,  till  we  halted  before  the  Virginian  watch- 
fires,  which  these  good  volunteers  will  insist  on  lighting  under 
the  very  noses  of  the  enemy's  picket ;  nor  was  it  till  late  we 
retired,  leaving  the  General  to  his  well-earned  repose. 


522  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

General  McClellan  took  the  situation  of  affairs  in  a  very 
easy  and  philosophical  spirit.  According  to  his  own  map  and 
showing,  the  enemy  not  only  overlapped  his  lines  from  the 
batteries  by  which  they  blockaded  the  Potomac  on  the  right, 
to  their  extreme  left  on  the  river  above  Washington,  but  have 
established  themselves  in  a  kind  of  salient  angle  on  his  front, 
at  a  place  called  Munson's  Hill,  where  their  flag  waved  from 
intrenchments  within  sight  of  the  Capitol.  However,  from  an 
observation  he  made,  I  imagined  that  the  General  would  make 
an  effort  to  recover  his  lost  ground  ;  at  any  rate,  beat  up  the 
enemy's  quarters,  in  order  to  see  what  they  were  doing ;  and 
he  promised  to  send  an  orderly  round  and  let  me  know ;  so, 
before  I  retired,  I  gave  orders  to  my  groom  to  have  "  Walker  " 
in  readiness. 

September  3d.  —  Notwithstanding  the  extreme  heat,  I  went 
out  early  this  morning  to  the  Chain  Bridge,  from  which  the 
reconnoissance  hinted  at  last  night  would  necessarily  start. 
This  bridge  is  about  four  and  a  half  or  five  miles  above  Wash 
ington,  and  crosses  the  river  at  a  picturesque  spot  almost  de 
serving  the  name  of  a  gorge,  with  high  banks  on  both  sides. 
It  is  a  light  aerial  structure,  and  spans  the  river  by  broad 
arches,  from  which  the  view  reminds  one  of  Highland  or 
Tyrolean  scenery.  The  road  from  the  city  passes  through  a 
squalid  settlement  of  European  squatters,  who  in  habitation, 
dress,  appearance,  and  possibly  civilization,  are  quite  as  bad 
as  any  negroes  on  any  Southern  plantation  I  have  visited. 
The  camps  of  a  division  lie  just  beyond,  and  a  gawky  sentry 
from  New  England,  with  whom  I  had  some  conversation, 
amused  me  by  saying  that  the  Colonel  "  was  a  darned  deal 
more  affeered  of  the  Irish  squatters  taking  off  his  poultry  at 
night  than  he  was  of  the  Secessioners  ;  anyways,  he  puts  out 
more  sentries  to  guard  them  than  he  has  to, look  after  the 
others." 

From  the  Chain  Bridge  I  went  some  distance  towards 
Falls  Church,  until  I  was  stopped  by  a  picket,  the  officer  of 
which  refused  to  recognize  General  Scott' s  pass.  "  I  guess 
the  General's  a  dead  man,  sir."  "  Is  he  not  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  United  States  army?"  "Well,  I  believe  that's 
a  fact,  sir ;  but  you  had  better  argue  that  point  with  McClel 
lan.  He  is  our  boy,  and  I  do  believe  he'd  like  to  let  the  Lon 
don  '  Times  '  know  how  we  Green  Mountain  boys  can  fight,  if 
they  don't  know  already.  But  all  passes  are  stopped  anyhow, 
and  I  had  to  turn  back  a  congressman  this  very  morning,  and 


FOREIGN  MINISTERS  ON  THE  WAR.  523 

lucky  for  him  it  was,  because  the  Sechessers  are  just  half  a 
mile  in  front  of  us."  On  my  way  back  by  the  upper  road  I 
passed  a  farmer's  house,  which  was  occupied  by  some  Federal 
officers,  and  there,  seated  in  the  veranda,  with  his  legs  cocked 
over  the  railings,  was  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  a  felt  hat,  and  a  loose 
gray  shooting-coat  and  long  vest,  "  letting  off,"  as  the  papers 
say,  one  of  his  jokes,  to  judge  by  his  attitude  and  the  laughter 
of  the  officers  around  him,  utterly  indifferent  to  the  Confeder 
ate  flag  floating  from  Munson's  Hill. 

Just  before  midnight  a  considerable  movement  of  troops 
took  place  through  the  streets,  and  I  was  about  starting  off  to 
ascertain  the  cause,  when  I  received  information  that  General 
McClellan  was  only  sending  off  two  brigades  and  four  batteries 
to  the  Chain  Bridge  to  strengthen  his  right,  which  was  menaced 
by  the  enemy.  I  retired  to  bed,  in  order  to  be  ready  for  any 
battle  which  might  take  place  to-morrow,  but  was  roused  up 
by  voices  beneath  my  window,  and  going  out  on  the  veranda, 
could  not  help  chuckling  at  the  appearance  of  three  foreign 
ministers  and  a  banker,  in  the  street  below,  who  had  come 
round  to  inquire,  in  some  perturbation,  the  cause  of  the  noc 
turnal  movement  of  men  and  guns,  and  seemed  little  inclined 
to  credit  my  assurances  that  nothing  more  serious  than  a  re- 
connoissance  was  contemplated.  The  ministers  were  in  high 
spirits  at  the  prospect  of  an  attack  on  Washington.  Such 
agreeable  people  are  the  governing  party  of  the  United  States 
at  present,  that  there  is  only  one  representative  of  a  foreign 
power  here  who  would  not  like  to  see  them  flying  before 
Southern  bayonets.  The  banker,  perhaps,  would  have  liked 
a  little  time  to  set  his  affairs  in  order.  "•  When  will  the  sack 
ing  begin?"  cried  the  ministers.  "  We  must  hoist  our  flags." 
'k  The  Confederates  respect  private  property,  I  suppose  ?  "  As 
to  flags,  be  it  remarked  that  Lord  Lyons  has  none  to  display, 
having  lent  his  to  Mr.  Seward,  who  required  it  for  some  festive 
demonstration. 

September  4th.  —  I  rode  over  to  the  Chain  Bridge  again 
with  Captain  Haworth  this  morning  at  seven  o'clock,  on  the 
chance  of  there  being  a  big  fight,  as  the  Americans  say  ;  but 
there  was  only  some  slight  skirmishing  going  on  ;  dropping 
shots  now  and  then.  Walker,  excited  by  the  reminiscences 
of  Bull  Run  noises,  performed  most  remarkable  feats,  one  of 
the  most  frequent  of  which  was  turning  right  round  when  at 
full  trot  or  canter  and  then  kicking  violently.  He  also  gal 
loped  in  a  most  lively  way  down  a  road  which,  in  winter,  is 


524  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

the  bed  of  a  torrent,  and  jumped  along  among  the  boulders 
and  stones  in  an  agile,  cat-like  manner,  to  the  great  delecta 
tion  of  my  companion. 

The  morning  was  intensely  hot,  so  I  was  by  no  means  indis 
posed  to  get  back  to  cover  again.  Nothing  would  persuade 
people  there  was  not  serious  fighting  somewhere  or  other.  I 
went  down  to  the  Long  Bridge,  and  was  stopped  by  the  sentry, 
so  I  produced  General  Scott's  pass,  which  I  kept  always  as  a 
dernier  ressort,  but  the  officer  on  duty  here  also  refused  it, 
as  passes  were  suspended.  I  returned  and  referred  the  mat 
ter  to  Colonel  Cullum  who  consulted  General  Scott,  and  in 
formed  me  that  the  pass  must  be  considered  as  perfectly  valid, 
not  having  been  revoked  by  the  General,  who,  as  Lieutenant- 
General  commanding  the  United  States  army,  was  senior  to 
every  other  officer,  and  could  only  have  his  pass  revoked  by 
the  President  himself.  Now  it  was  quite  plain  that  it  would 
do  me  no  good  to  have  an  altercation  with  the  sentries  at 
every  post  in  order  to  have  the  satisfaction  of  reporting  the 
matter  to  General  Scott.  I,  therefore,  procured  a  letter  from 
Colonel  Cullum  stating,  in  writing,  what  he  said  in  words,  and 
with  that  and  the  pass  went  to  General  McClellan's  head 
quarters,  where  I  was  told  by  his  aides  the  General  was  en 
gaged  in  a  kind  of  council  of  war.  I  sent  up  my  papers,  and 
Major  Hudson,  of  his  staff,  came  down  after  a  short  time  and 
said,  that  "  General  McClellan  thought  it  would  be  much  bet 
ter  if  General  Scott  had  given  me  a  new  special  pass,  but  as 
General  Scott  had  thought  fit  to  take  the  present  course  on 
his  own  responsibility,  General  McClellan  could  not  interfere 
in  the  matter,"  whence  it  may  be  inferred  there  is  no  very 
pleasant  feeling  between  head-quarters  of  the  army  of  the  Po 
tomac  and  head-quarters  of  the  army  of  the  United  States. 

I  went  on  to  the  Navy  Yard,  where  a  look-out  man,  who  can 
command  the  whole  of  the  country  to  Munson's  Hill,  is  sta 
tioned,  and  I  heard  from  Captain  Dahlgren  that  there  was  no 
fighting  whatever.  There  were  columns  of  smoke  visible  from 
Capitol  Hill,  which  the  excited  spectators  declared  were  caused 
by  artillery  and  musketry,  but  my  glass  resolved  them  into 
emanations  from  a  vast  extent  of  hanging  wood  and  brush 
which  the  Federals  were  burning  in  order  to  clear  their  front. 
However,  people  were  so  positive  as  to  hearing  cannonades 
and  volleys  of  musketry  that  we  went  out  to  the  reservoir  hill 
at  Georgetown,  and  gazing  over  the  debatable  land  of  Vir 
ginia —  which,  by  the  way,  is  very  beautiful  these  summer 


GENERAL  HALLECK.  525 

sunsets  —  became  thoroughly  satisfied  of  the  delusion.  Met 
Van  Vliet  as  I  was  returning,  who  had  just  seen  the  reports 
at  head-quarters,  and  averred  there  was  no  fighting  whatever. 
My  landlord  had  a  very  different  story.  His  friend,  an  hos 
pital  steward,  "  had  seen  ninety  wounded  men  carried  into  one 
ward  from  over  the  river,  and  believed  the  Federals  had  lost 
1000  killed  and  wounded  and  twenty-five  guns." 

Sept.  5th.  —  Raining  all  day.  McClellan  abandoned  his 
intention  of  inspecting  the  lines,  and  I  remained  in,  writing. 
The  anonymous  letters  still  continue.  Received  one  from 
an  unmistakable  Thug  to-day,  with  the  death's-head,  cross- 
bones,  and  coffin,  in  the  most  orthodox  style  of  national-school 
drawing. 

The  event  of  the  day  was  the  appearance  of  the  President 
in  the  Avenue  in  a  suit  of  black,  and  a  parcel  in  his  hand, 
walking  umbrella-less  in  the  rain.  Mrs.  Lincoln  has  returned, 
and  the  worthy  "  Executive  "  will  no  longer  be  obliged  to  go 
"  browsing  round,"  as  he  says,  among  his  friends  at  dinner 
time.  He  is  working  away  at  money  matters  with  energy, 
but  has  been  much  disturbed  in  his  course  of  studies  by  Gen 
eral  Fremont's  sudden  outburst  in  the  West,  which  proclaims 
emancipation,  and  draws  out  the  arrow  which  the  President 
intended  to  discharge  from  his  own  bow. 

Sept.  6th.  —  At  3-30,  p.  M.,  General  McClellan  sent  over 
an  orderly  to  say  he  was  going  across  the  river,  and  would  be 
glad  of  my  company  ;  but  I  was  just  finishing  my  letters  for 
England,  and  had  to  excuse  myself  for  the  moment ;  and  when 
I  was  ready,  the  General  and  staff  had  gone  venire  a  terre 
into  Virginia.  After  post,  paid  my  respects  to  General  Scott, 
who  is  about  to  retire  from  the  command  on  his  full-pay  of 
about  £3500  per  annum,  which  is  awarded  to  him  on  account 
of  his  long  services. 

A  new  Major-General  —  Halleck —  has  been  picked  up  m 
California,  and  is  highly  praised  by  General  Scott  and  by 
Colonel  Cullum,  with  whom  I  had  a  long  talk  about  the  gen 
erals  on  both  sides.  Halleck  is  a  West  Point  officer,  and  has 
published  some  works  on  military  science  which  are  highly 
esteemed  in  the  States.  Before  California  became  a  State,  he 
was  secretary  to  the  governor  or  officer  commanding  the  terri 
tory,  and  eventually  left  the  service  and  became  a  lawyer  in 
the  district,  where  he  has  amassed  a  large  fortune.  He  is  a 
man  of  great  ability,  very  calm,  practical,  earnest,  and  cold, 
devoted  to  the  Union  —  a  soldier,  and  something  more.  Lee 


526  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

is  considered  the  ablest  man  on  the  Federal  side,  but  he  is 
slow  and  timid.  "  Joe  "  Johnson  is  their  best  strategist.  Beau- 
regard  is  nobody  and  nothing  —  so  think  they  at  head-quarters. 
All  of  them  together  are  not  equal  to  Halleck,  who  is  to  be 
employed  in  the  West. 

1  dined  at  the  Legation,  where  were  the  Russian  Minister, 
the  Secretary  of  the  French  Legation,  the  representative  of 
New  Granada,  and  others.  As  I  was  anxious  to  explain  to 
General  McClellan  the  reason  of  my  inability  to  go  out  with 
him,  I  called  at  his  quarters  about  eleven  o'clock,  and  found  he 
had  just  returned  from  his  ride.  He  received  me  in  his  shirt, 
in  his  bed-room  at  the  top  of  the  house,  introduced  me  to 
General  Burnside  —  a  soldierly,  intelligent-looking  man,  with 
a  very  lofty  forehead,  and  uncommonly  bright  dark  eyes ;  and 
we  had  some  conversation  about  matters  of  ordinary  interest 
for  some  time,  till  General  McClellan  called  me  into  an  ante 
chamber,  where  an  officer  was  writing  a  despatch,  which  he 
handed  to  the  General.  "  I  wish  to  ask  your  opinion  as  to 
the  wording  of  this  order.  It  is  a  matter  of  importance.  I 
see  that  the  men  of  this  army,  Mr.  Russell,  disregard  the  Sab 
bath,  and  neglect  the  worship  of  God  ;  and  I  am  resolved  to 
put  an  end  to  such  neglect,  as  far  as  I  can.  I  have,  therefore, 
directed  the  following  order  to  be  drawn  up,  which  will  be 
promulgated  to-morrow."  The  General  spoke  with  much  ear 
nestness,  and  with  an  air  which  satisfied  me  of  his  sincerity. 
The  officer  in  waiting  read  the  order,  in  which,  at  the  Gen 
eral's  request,  I  suggested  a  few  alterations.  The  General 
told  me  he  had  received  "  sure  information  that  Beauregard 
has  packed  up  all  his  baggage,  struck  his  tents,  and  is  evidently 
preparing  for  a  movement,  so  you  may  be  wanted  at  a  mo 
ment's  notice."  General  Burnside  returned  to  my  rooms,  in 
company  with  Mr.  Larny,  and  we  sat  up  discoursing  of  Bull's 
Run,  in  which  his  brigade  was  the  first  engaged  in  front.  He 
spoke  like  a  man  of  sense  and  a  soldier  of  the  action,  and 
stood  up  for  the  conduct  of  some  regiments,  though  he  could 
not  palliate  the  final  disorder.  The  papers  circulate  rumors 
of  "  Jeff  Davis's  death  ;  "  nay,  accounts  of  his  burial.  The 
public  does  not  believe,  but  buys  all  the  same. 

Sept.  1th.  —  Yes  ;  «•  Jeff  Davis  must  be  dead."  There  are 
some  touching  lamentations  in  the  obituary  notices  over  his 
fate  in  the  oilier  world.  Meanwhile,  however,  his  spirit  seems 
quite  alive;  for  there  is  an  absolute  certainty  that  the  Confed 
erates  are  coming  to  attack  the  Capitol.  Lieut.  Wise  and 


UNPOPULARITY  AND  THE  PRESS.  527 

Lord  A.  Van  Tempest  argued  the  question  whether  the  assault 
would  be  made  by  a  flank  movement  above  or  direct  in  front  ; 
and  Wise  maintained  the  latter  thesis  with  vigor  not  dispro- 
portioned  to  the  energy  with  which  his  opponent  demonstrated 
that  the  Confederates  could  not  be  such  madmen  as  to  march 
up  to  the  Federal  batteries.  There  is  actually  4'a  battle'', 
raging  (in  the  front  of  the  Philadelphia  newspaper  offices) 
this  instant  —  Populus  vult  decipi  —  decipiatur. 

Sept.  8th.  —  Rode  over  to  Arlington  House.  Went  round 
by  Aqueduct  Bridge,  Georgetown,  and  out  across  Chain  Bridge 
to  Brigadier  Smith's  head-quarters,  which  are  established  in  a 
comfortable  house  belonging  to  a  Secessionist  farmer.  The 
General  belongs  to  the  regular  army,  and,  if  one  can  judge 
from  externals,  is  a  good  officer.  A  libation  of  Bourbon  and 
water  was  poured  out  to  friendship,  and  we  rode  out  with 
Captain  Foe,  of  the  Topographical  Engineers,  a  hard-working, 
eager  fellow,  to  examine  the  trench  which  the  men  were  engaged 
in  throwing  up  to  defend  the  position  they  have  just  occupied  on 
some  high  knolls,  now  cleared  of  wood,  and  overlooking  ravines 
which  stretch  towards  Falls  Church  and  Vienna.  Everything 
about  the  camp  looked  like  fighting:  Napoleon  guns  planted 
on  the  road  ;  Griffin's  battery  in  a  field  near  at  hand  ;  moun 
tain  howitzers  unlimbered  ;  strong  pickets  and  main-guards  ; 
the  five  thousand  men  all  kept  close  to  their  camps,  and  two 
regiments,  in  spite  of  McClellan's  order,  engaged  on  the 
trenches,  which  were  already  mounted  with  field-guns.  Gen 
eral  Smith,  like  most  officers,  is  a  Democrat  and  strong,  anti- 
Abolitionist,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  suppose  he  would  fight 
any  rather  than  Virginians.  As  we  were  riding  about,  it  got 
out  among  the  men  that  I  was  present,  and  I  was  regarded 
with  no  small  curiosity,  staring,  and  some  angry  looks.  The 
men  do  not  know  what  to  make  of  it  when  they  see  their 
officers  in  the  company  of  one  whom  they  are  reading  about 
in  the  papers  as  the  most  &c.,  &c.,  the  world  ever  saw.  And, 
indeed,  I  know  well  enough,  so  great  is  their  passion  and  so 
easily  are  they  misled,  that  without  such  safeguard  the  men 
would  in  all  probability  carry  out  the  suggestions  of  one  of 
their  particular  guides,  who  has  undergone  so  many  cuffings 
that  he  rather  likes  them.  Am  I  not  the  cause  of  the  disaster 
at  Bull  Run? 

Going  home,  I  met  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  in  their  new  open 
carriage.  The  President  was  not  so  good-humored,  nor  Mrs. 
Lincoln  so  affable,  in  their  return  to  my  salutation  as  usual. 


528  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

My  unpopularity  is  certainly  spreading  upwards  and  down 
wards  at  the  same  time,  and  all  because  I  could  not  turn  the 
battle  of  Bull's  Run  into  a  Federal  victory,  because  I  would 
not  pander  to  the  vanity  of  the  people,  and,  least  of  all,  be 
cause  I  will  not  bow  my  knee  to  the  degraded  creatures  who 
have  made  the  very  name  of  a  free  press  odious  to  honorable 
men.  Many  of  the  most  foul-mouthed  and  rabid  of  the  men 
who  revile  me  because  I  have  said  the  Union  as  it  was  never 
can  be  restored,  are  as  fully  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  that  state 
ment  as  I  am.  They  have  written  far  severer  things  of  their 
army  than  I  have  ever  done.  They  have  slandered  their  sol 
diers  and  their  officers  as  I  have  never  done.  They  have  fed 
the  worst  passions  of  a  morbid  democracy,  till  it  can  neither 
see  nor  hear ;  but  they  shall  never  have  the  satisfaction  of 
either  driving  me  from  my  post  or  inducing  me  to  deviate  a 
hair's-breadth  from  the  course  I  have  resolved  to  pursue,  as  I 
have  done  before  in  other  cases  —  greater  and  graver,  as  far 
as  I  was  concerned,  than  this. 

Sept.  9th.  —  This  morning,  as  I  was  making  the  most  of  my 
toilet  after  a  ride,  a  gentleman  in  the  uniform  of  a  United 
States  officer  came  up-stairs,  and  marched  into  my  sitting- 
room,  saying  he  wished  to  see  me  on  business.  I  thought  it 
was  one  of  my  numerous  friends  coming  with  a  message  from 
some  one  who  was  going  to  avenge  Bull's  Run  on  me.  So, 
going  out  as  speedily  as  I  could,  I  bowed  to  the  officer,  and 
asked  his  business.  "  I've  come  here  because  I'd  like  to  trade 
with  you  about  that  chestnut  horse  of  yours."  I  replied  that 
I  could  only  state  what  price  I  had  given  for  him,  and  say 
that  I  would  take  the  same,  and  no  less.  "  What  may  you 
have  given  for  him  ?  "  I  discovered  that  my  friend  had  been 
already  to  the  stable  and  ascertained  the  price  from  the  groom, 
who  considered  himself  bound  in  duty  to  name  a  few  dollars 
beyond  the  actual  sum  I  had  given,  for  when  I  mentioned  the 
price,  the  countenance  of  the  man  of  war  relaxed  into  a  grim 
smile.  "  Well,  I  reckon  that  help  of  yours  is  a  pretty  smart 
chap,  though  he  does  come  from  your  side  of  the  world." 
When  the  preliminaries  had  been  arranged,  the  officer  an 
nounced  that  he  had  come  on  behalf  of  another  officer  to  offer 
me  an  order  on  his  paymaster,  payable  at  some  future  date, 
for  the  animal,  which  he  desired,  however,  to  take  away  upon 
the  spot.  The  transaction  was  rather  amusing,  but  I  con 
sented  to  let  the  horse  go,  much  to  the  indignation  and  uneasi 
ness  of  the  Scotch  servant,  who  regarded  it  as  contrary  to  all 
the  principles  of  morality  in  horse-flesh. 


PASSES  SOUTH  REFUSED.  529 

Lord  A.  V.  Tempest  and  another  British  subject,  who  ap 
plied  to  Mr.  Steward  to-day  for  leave  to  go  South,  were  curtly 
refused.  The  Foreign  Secretary  is  not  very  well  pleased 
with  us  all  just  now,  and  there  has  been  some  little  uneasiness 
between  him  and  Lord  Lyons,  in  consequence  of  representa 
tions  respecting  an  improper  excess  in  the  United  States 
marine  on  the  lakes,  contrary  to  treaty.  The  real  cause, 
perhaps,  of  Mr.  Seward's  annoyance  is  to  be  found  in  the 
exaggerated  statements  of  the  American  papers  respecting 
British  reinforcements  for  Canada,  which,  in  truth,  are  the 
ordinary  reliefs.  These  small  questions  in  the  present  condi 
tion  of  affairs  cause  irritation  ;  but  if  the  United  States  were 
not  distracted  by  civil  war,  they  would  be  seized  eagerly  as 
pretexts  to  excite  the  popular  mind  against  Great  Britain. 

The  great  difficulty  of  all,  which  must  be  settled  some  day, 
relates  to  San  Juan  ;  and  every  American  I  have  met  is  per 
suaded  Great  Britain  is  in  the  wrong,  and  must  consent  to  a 
compromise  or  incur  the  risk  of  war.  The  few  English  in 
Washington,  I  think,  were  all  present  at  dinner  at  the  Lega 
tion  to-day. 

Sept.  10th.  —  A  party  of  American  officers  passed  the 
evening  where  I  dined  —  all,  of  course,  Federals,  but  holding 
very  different  views.  A  Massachusetts  Colonel,  named  Gor 
don,  asserted  that  slavery  was  at  the  root  of  every  evil  which 
afflicted  the  Republic ;  that  it  was  not  necessary  in  the  South 
or  anywhere  else,  and  that  the  South  maintained  the  institu 
tion  for  political  as  well  as  private  ends.  A  Virginian  Cap 
tain,  on  the  contrary,  declared  that  slavery  was  in  itself  good  ; 
that  it  could  not  be  dangerous,  as  it  was  essentially  conserva 
tive,  and  desired  nothing  better  than  to  be  left  alone  ;  but 
that  the  Northern  fanatics,  jealous  of  the  superior  political  in 
fluence  and  ability  of  Southern  statesman,  and  sordid  Protec 
tionists  who  wished  to  bind  the  South  to  take  their  goods  ex 
clusively,  perpetrated  all  the  mischief.  An  officer  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  assigned  all  the  misfortunes  of  the  coun 
try  to  universal  suffrage,  to  foreign  immigration,  and  to  these 
alone.  Mob-law  revolts  well-educated  men,  and  people  who 
pride  themselves  because  their  fathers  lived  in  the  country 
before  them,  will  not  be  content  to  see  a  foreigner  who  has 
been  but  a  short  time  on  the  soil  exercising  as  great  influence 
over  the  fate  of  the  country  as  himself.  A  contest  will,  there 
fore,  always  be  going  on  between  those  representing  the  oli 
garchical  principle  and  the  pollarchy  ;  and  the  result  must  be 
23 


530  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

disruption  sooner  or  later,  because  there  is  no  power  in  a 
republic  to  restrain  the  struggling  factions  which  the  weight 
of  the  crown  compresses  in  monarchical  countries. 

I  dined  with  a  namesake  —  a  major  in  the  United  States 
Marines  —  with  whom  I  had  become  accidentally  acquainted, 
in  consequence  of  our  letters  frequently  changing  hands,  and 
spent  an  agreeable  evening  in  company  with  naval  and  mili 
tary  officers ;  not  the  less  so  because  our  host  had  some  mar 
vellous  Madeira,  dating  back  from  the  Conquest  —  I  mean  of 
Washington.  Several  of  the  officers  spoke  in  the  highest 
terms  of  General  Banks,  whom  they  call  a  most  remarkable 
man  ;  but  so  jealous  are  the  politicians  that  he  will  never  be 
permitted,  they  think,  to  get  a  fair  chance  of  distinguishing 
himself. 


CHAPTER   LVI. 

A  Crimean  acquaintance  —  Personal  abuse  of  myself — Close  firing  — 
A  reconnoissance  —  Major-General  Bell  —  The  Prince  de  Joinville 
and  his  nephews — American  estimate  of  Louis  Napoleon  —  Arrest 
of  members  of  the  Maryland  Legislature — Life  at  Washington  — 
War  cries  —  News  from  the  Far  West  — Journey  to  the  Western 
States  —  Along  the  Susquehannah  and  Juniata  —  Chicago  —  Sport 
in  the  prairie  —  Arrested  for  shooting  on  Sunday  —  The  town  of 
Dwight  —  Return  to  Washington  —  Mr.  Seward  and  myself. 

September  llth.  —  A  soft- voiced,  round-faced,  rather  good- 
looking  young  man,  with  downy  moustache,  came  to  my  room, 
and  introduced  himself  this  morning  as  Mr.  H.  H.  Scott,  for 
merly  of  Her  Majesty's  57th  Regiment.  "  Don't  you  remem 
ber  me  ?  I  often  met  you  at  Cathcart's  Hill.  I  had  a  big 
dog,  if  you  remember,  which  used  to  be  about  the  store  be 
longing  to  our  camp."  And  so  he  rattled  on,  talking  of  old 
Street  and  young  Jones  with  immense  volubility,  and  telling 
me  how  he  had  gone  out  to  India  with  his  regiment,  had  mar 
ried,  lost  his  wife,  and  was  now  travelling  for  the  benefit  of 
his  health  and  to  see  the  country.  All  the  time  I  was  trying 
to  remember  his  face,  but  in  vain.  At  last  came  the  purport 
of  his  visit.  He  had  been  taken  ill  at  Baltimore,  and  was 
obliged  to  stop  at  an  hotel,  which  had  cost  him  more  than  he 
had  anticipated  ;  he  had  just  received  a  letter  from  his  father, 
which  required  his  immediate  return,  and  he  had  telegraphed 
to  New  York  to  secure  his  place  in  the  next  steamer.  Mean 
time,  he  was  out  of  money,  and  required  a  small  loan  to  enable 
him  to  go  back  and  prepare  for  his  journey,  and  of  course  he 
would  send  me  the  money  the  moment  he  arrived  in  New 
York.  I  wrote  a  check  for  the  amount  he  named,  with 
which  Lieutenant  or  Captain  Scott  departed ;  and  my  sus 
picions  were  rather  aroused  by  seeing  him  beckon  a  remark 
ably  ill-favored  person  at  the  other  side  of  the  way,  who 
crossed  over  and  inspected  the  little  slip  of  paper  held  out  for 
his  approbation,  and  then,  taking  his  friend  under  the  arm, 
walked  off  rapidly  toward  the  bank. 


532  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

The  papers  still  continue  to  abuse  me  faute  de  mieux ; 
there  are  essays  written  about  me  ;  I  am  threatened  with 
several  farces ;  I  have  been  lectured  upon  at  Willard's  by  a 
professor  of  rhetoric ;  and  I  am  a  stock  subject  with  the 
leaden  penny  funny  journals,  for  articles  and  caricatures. 
Yesterday  I  was  abused  on  the  ground  that  I  spoke  badly  of 
those  who  treated  me  hospitably.  The  man  who  wrote  the 
words  knew  they  were  false,  because  I  have  been  most  care 
ful  in  my  correspondence  to  avoid  any  thing  of  the  kind.  A 
favorite  accusation,  indeed,  which  Americans  make  against 
foreigners  is,  "  that  they  have  abused  our  hospitality,"  which  of 
tentimes  consists  in  permitting  them  to  live  in  the  country  at  all 
at  their  own  expense,  paying  their  way  at  hotels  and  else 
where,  without  the  smallest  suspicion  that  they  were  receiving 
any  hospitality  whatever. 

To-day,  for  instance,  there  comes  a  lively  corporal  of  artil 
lery,  John  Robinson,  who  quotes  Sismondi,  Guizot,  and  others, 
to  prove  that  I  am  the  worst  man  in  the  world ;  but  his 
fiercest  invectives  are  directed  against  me  on  the  ground  that  I 
speak  well  of  those  people  who  give  me  dinners  ;  the  fact 
being,  since  I  came  to  America,  that  I  have  given  at  least  as 
many  dinners  to  Americans  as  I  have  received  from  them. 

Just  as  I  was  sitting  down  to  my  desk  for  the  remainder  of 
the  day,  a  sound  caught  my  ear  which,  repeated  again  and 
again,  could  not  be  mistaken  by  accustomed  organs,  and  plac 
ing  my  face  close  to  the  windows,  I  perceived  the  glass 
vibrate  to  the  distant  discharge  of  cannon,  which,  evidently, 
did  not  proceed  from  a  review  or  a  salute.  Unhappy  man 
that  I  am  !  here  is  Walker  lame,  and  my  other  horse  carried 
off  by  the  West-country  captain.  However,  the  sounds  were 
so  close  that  in  a  few  moments  I  was  driving  off  toward  the 
Chain  Bridge,  taking  the  upper  road,  as  that  by  the  canal  has 
become  a  sea  of  mud  filled  with  deep  holes. 

In  the  windows,  on  the  house-tops,  even  to  the  ridges  par 
tially  overlooking  Virginia,  people  were  standing  in  high  ex 
citement  watching  the  faint  puffs  of  smoke  which  rose  at 
intervals  above  the  tree-tops,  and  at  every  report  a  murmur 
—  exclamations  of  "  There,  do  you  hear  that  ? "  —  ran 
through  the  crowd.  The  driver,  as  excited  as  any  one  else, 
urged  his  horses  at  full  speed,  and  we  arrived  at  the  Chain 
Bridge  just  as  General  McCall  —  a  white  haired,  rather  mili 
tary-looking  old  man  —  appeared  at  the  head  of  his  column, 
hurrying  down  to  the  Chain  Bridge  from  the  Maryland  side, 


ANOTHER  FEDERAL  VICTORY.  533 

to  reinforce  Smith,  who  was  said  to  be  heavily  engaged  with 
the  enemy.  But  by  this  time  the  firing  had  ceased,  and  just 
as  the  artillery  of  the  General's  column  commenced  defiling 
through  the  mud,  into  which  the  guns  sank  to  the  naves  of 
the  wheels,  the  head  of  another  column  appeared,  entering  the 
bridge  from  the  Virginia  side  with  loud  cheers,  which  were 
taken  up  again  and  again.  The  carriage  was  halted  to  allow 
the  2nd  Wisconsin  to  pass  ;  and  a  more  broken-down,  white- 
faced,  sick,  and  weakly  set  of  poor  wretches  I  never  beheld. 
The  heavy  rains  had  washed  the  very  life  out  of  them ;  their 
clothing  was  in  rags,  their  shoes  were  broken,  and  multitudes 
were  footsore.  They  cheered,  nevertheless,  or  whooped,  and 
there  was  a  tremendous  clatter  of  tongues  in  the  ranks  con 
cerning  their  victory ;  but  as  the  men's  faces  and  hands  were 
not  blackened  by  powder,  they  could  have  seen  little  of  the 
engagement.  Captain  Poe  came  along  with  despatches  for 
General  McClellan,  and  gave  me  a  correct  account  of  the 
affair. 

All  this  noise  and  firing  and  excitement,  I  found  simply 
arose  out  of  a  reconnoissance  made  toward  Lewinsville,  by 
Smith  and  a  part  of  his  brigade,  to  beat  up  the  enemy's  posi 
tion,  and  enable  the  topographical  engineers  to  procure  some 
information  respecting  the  country.  The  Confederates  worked 
down  upon  their  left  flank  with  artillery,  which  they  got  into 
position  at  an  easy  range  without  being  observed,  intending, 
no  doubt,  to  cut  off  their  retreat  and  capture  or  destroy  the 
whole  force ;  but,  fortunately  for  the  reconnoitring  party,  the 
impatience  of  their  enemies  led  them  to  open  fire  too  soon. 
The  Federals  got  their  guns  into  position  also,  and  covered 
their  retreat,  whilst  reinforcements  poured  out  of  camp  to 
their  assistance,  "  and  I  doubt  not,"  said  Poe,  "  but  that  they 
will  have  an  encounter  of  a  tremendous  scalping  match  in  all 
the  papers  to-morrow,  although  we  have  only  six  or  seven 
men  killed,  and  twelve  wounded."  As  we  approached  Wash 
ington  the  citizens,  as  they  are  called,  were  waving  Federal 
banners  out  of  the  windows  and  rejoicing  in  a  great  victory  ; 
at  least,  the  inhabitants  of  the  inferior  sort  of  houses.  Re 
spectability  in  Washington  means  Secession. 

Mr.  Monson  told  me  that  my  distressed  young  British  sub 
ject,  Captain  Scott,  had  called  on  him  at  the  Legation  early 
this  morning  for  the  little  pecuniary  help  which  had  been  I 
fear,  wisely  refused  there,  and  which  was  granted  by  me. 
The  States  have  become,  indeed,  more  than  ever  the  cloacina 


534  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

gentium,  and  Great  Britain  contributes  its  full  quota  to  the 
stream. 

Thus  time  passes  away  in  expectation  of  some  onward 
movement,  or  desperate  attack,  or  important  strategical  move 
ments  ;  and  night  comes  to  reassemble  a  few  friends,  Ameri 
cans  and  English,  at  my  rooms  or  elsewhere,  to  talk  over  the 
disappointed  hopes  of  the  day,  to  speculate  on  the  future,  to 
chide  each  dull  delay,  and  to  part  with  a  hope  that  to-morrow 
would  be  more  lively  than  to-day.  Major- General  Bell,  who 
commanded  the  Royals  in  the  Crimea,  and  who  has  passed 
some  half  century  in  active  service,  turned  up  in  Washington, 
and  has  been  courteously  received  by  the  American  author 
ities.  He  joined  to-night  one  of  our  small  reunions,  and  was 
infinitely  puzzled  to  detect  the  lines  which  separated  one  man's 
country  and  opinions  from  those  of  the  other. 

September  llth.  —  Captain  Johnson,  Queen's  messenger, 
started  with  despatches  for  England  from  the  Legation  to-day, 
to  the  regret  of  our  little  party.  I  observe  by  the  papers 
certain  wiseacres  in  Philadelphia  have  got  up  a  petition 
against  me  to  Mr.  Seward,  on  the  ground  that  I  have  been 
guilty  of  treasonable  practices  and  misrepresentations  in  my 
letter  dated  August  10th.  There  is  also  to  be  a  lecture  on 
the  17th  at  Willard's  by  the  Professor  of  Rhetoric,  to  a  vol 
unteer  regiment,  which  the  President  is  invited  to  attend  — 
the  subject  being  myself. 

There  is  an  absolute  nullity  of  events,  out  of  which  the 
New  York  papers  endeavor,  in  vain,  to  extract  a  coput  mor- 
tuum  of  sensation  headings.  The  Prince  of  Joinville  and  his 
two  nephews,  the  Count  of  Paris  and  the  Duke  of  Chartres, 
have  been  here  for  some  days,  and  have  been  received  with 
marked  attention  by  the  President,  Cabinet,  politicians  and 
military.  The  Prince  has  come  with  the  intention  of  placing 
his  son  at  the  United  States  Naval  Academy,  and  his  nephews 
with  the  head-quarters  of  the  Federal  army.  The  empresse- 
ment  exhibited  at  the  White  House  toward  the  French  princes 
is  attributed  by  ill-natured  rumors  and  persons  to  a  little  pique 
on  the  part  of  Mrs.  Lincoln,  because  the  Princess  Clothilde 
did  not  receive  her  at  New  York,  but  considerable  doubts  are 
entertained  of  the  Emperor's  "  loyalty "  toward  the  Union. 
Under  the  wild  extravagance  of  professions  of  attachment  to 
France  are  hidden  suspicions  that  Louis  Napoleon  may  be 
capable  of  treasonable  practices  and  misrepresentations,  which, 
in  time,  may  lead  the  Philadelphians  to  get  up  a  petition 
against  M.  Mercier. 


McCLELLAN'S  FUTURE.  535 

The  news  that  twenty-two  members  of  the  Maryland  Legis 
lature  have  been  seized  by  the  Federal  authorities  has  not 
produced  the  smallest  effect  here ;  so  easily  do  men  in  the 
rnidst  of  political  troubles  bend  to  arbitrary  power,  and  so 
rapidly  do  all  guarantees  disappear  in  a  revolution.  I  was 
speaking  to  one  of  General  McClellan's  aides-de-camp  this 
evening  respecting  these  things,  when  he  said  —  "If  I  thought 
he  would  use  his  power  a  day  longer  than  was  necessary,  I 
would  resign  this  moment.  I  believe  him  incapable  of  any 
selfish  or  unconstitutional  views,  or  unlawful  ambition,  and 
you  will  see  that  he  will  not  disappoint  our  expectations." 

It  is  now  quite  plain  McClellan  has  no  intention  of  making 
a  general  defensive  movement  against  Richmond.  He  is 
aware  his  army  is  not  equal  to  the  task  —  commissariat  defi 
cient,  artillery  wanting,  no  cavalry ;  above  all,  ill-officered, 
incoherent  battalions.  He  hopes,  no  doubt,  by  constant 
reviewing  and  inspection,  and  by  weeding  out  the  preposter 
ous  fellows  who  render  epaulettes  ridiculous,  to  create  an 
infantry  which  shall  be  able  for  a  short  campaign  in  the  fine 
autumn  weather;  but  I  am  quite  satisfied  he  does  not  intend 
to  move  now,  and  possibly  will  not  do  so  till  next  year.  I 
have  arranged  therefore  to  pay  a  short  visit  to  the  West,  pen 
etrating  as  far  as  I  can,  without  leaving  telegraphs  and  rail 
ways  behind,  so  that  if  an  advance  takes  place,  I  shall  be  back 
in  time  at  Washington  to  assist  at  the  earliest  battle.  These 
Federal  armies  do  not  move  like  the  corps  of  the  French  re 
public,  or  Crawford's  Light  Division. 

In  truth,  Washington  life  is  becoming  exceedingly  monot 
onous  and  uninteresting.  The  pleasant  little  evening  parties 
or  tertulias  which  once  relieved  the  dulness  of  this  dullest 
of  capitals,  take  place  no  longer.  Very  wrong  indeed 
would  it  be  that  rejoicings  and  festivities  should  occur  in  the 
capital  of  a  country  menaced  with  destruction,  where  many 
anxious  hearts  are  grieving  over  the  lost,  or  tortured  with 
fears  for  the  living. 

But  for  the  hospitality  of  Lord  Lyons  to  the  English  resi 
dents,  the  place  would  be  nearly  insufferable,  for  at  his  house 
one  met  other  friendly  ministers  who  extended  the  circle  of 
invitations,  and  two  or  three  American  families  completed  the 
list  which  one  could  reckon  on  his  fingers.  Then  at  night, 
there  were  assemblages  of  the  same  men,  who  uttered  the 
same  opinions,  told  the  same  stories,  sang  the  same  songs, 
varied  seldom  by  strange  faces  or  novel  accomplishments,  but 


536  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

always  friendly  and  social  enough  —  not  conducive  perhaps  to 
very  early  rising,  but  innocent  of  gambling,  or  other  excess. 
A  flask  of  Bordeaux,  a  wicker-covered  demijohn  of  Bourbon, 
a  jug  of  iced  water,  and  a  bundle  of  cigars,  with  the  latest 
arrival  of  newspapers,  furnished  the  materiel  of  these  small 
symposiums,  in  which  Americans  and  Englishmen  and  a  few 
of  the  members  of  foreign  Legations,  mingled  in  a  friendly 
cosmopolitan  manner.  Now  and  then  a  star  of  greater  mag 
nitude  came  down  upon  us :  a  senator  or  an  "  earnest  man," 
or  a  "  live  man,"  or  a  constitutional  lawyer,  or  a  remarkable 
statesman,  coruscated,  and  rushing  off  into  the  outer  world 
left  us  befogged,  with  our  glimmering  lights  half  extinguished 
with  tobacco-smoke. 

Out  of  doors  excessive  heat  alternating  with  thunder-storms 
and  tropical  showers  —  dust  beaten  into  mud,  or  mud  subli 
mated  into  dust  —  eternal  reviews,  each  like  the  other  — 
visits  to  camp,  where  we  saw  the  same  men  and  heard  the 
same  stories  of  perpetual  abortive  skirmishes  —  rides  confined 
to  the  same  roads  and  paths  by  lines  of  sentries,  offered  no 
greater  attraction  than  the  city  where  one's  bones  were 
racked  with  fever  and  ague,  and  where  every  evening  the 
pestilential  vapors  of  the  Potomac  rose  higher  and  spread 
further.  No  wonder  that  I  was  glad  to  get  away  to  the  Far 
West,  particularly  as  I  entertained  hopes  of  witnessing  some 
of  the  operations  down  the  Mississippi,  before  I  was  sum 
moned  back  to  Washington,  by  the  news  that  the  grand  army 
had  actually  broken  up  camp,  and  was  about  once  more  to 
march  against  Richmond. 

September  12th.  —  The  day  passed  quietly,  in  spite  of 
rumors  of  another  battle  ;  the  band  played  in  the  President's 
garden,  and  citizens  and  citizenesses  strolled  about  the  grounds 
as  if  Secession  had  been  annihilated.  The  President  made  a 
fitful  appearance,  in  a  gray  shooting  suit,  with  a  number  of 
despatches  in  his  hand,  and  walked  off  toward  the  State  De 
partment  quite  unnoticed  by  the  crowd.  I  am  sure  not  half  a 
dozen  persons  saluted  him  —  not  one  of  the  men  I  saw  even 
touched  his  hat.  General  Bell  went  round  the  works  with 
McClellan,and  expressed  his  opinion  that  it  would  be  impossi 
ble  to  fight  a  great  battle  in  the  country  which  lay  between 
the  two  armies  —  in  fact,  as  he  said,  "  a  general  could  no  more 
handle  his  troops  among  the  woods,  than  he  could  regulate 
the  movements  of  rabbits  in  a  cover.  You  ought  just  to  make 
a  proposition  to  Beauregard  to  come  out  on  some  plain  and 
fight  the  battle  fairly  out  where  you  can  see  each  other." 


LEAVE  BALTIMORE.  537 

September  1 6th.  —  It  is  most  agreeable  to  be  removed  from 
all  the  circumstance  without  any  of  the  pomp  and  glory  of 
war.  Although  there  is  a  tendency  in  the  North,  and,  for 
aught  I  know,  in  the  South,  to  consider  the  contest  in  the  same 
light  as  one  with  a  foreign  enemy,  the  very  battle-cries  on 
both  sides  indicate  a  civil  war.  "  The  Union  forever"  — 
"  States'  rights"  —  and  "  Down  with  the  Abolitionists,"  cannot 
be  considered  national.  McClellan  takes  no  note  of  time  even 
by  its  loss,  which  is  all  the  more  strange  because  he  sets  great 
store  upon  it  in  his  report  on  the  conduct  of  the  war  in  the 
Crimea.  However,  he  knows  an  army  cannot  be  made  in  two 
months,  and  that  the  larger  it  is,  the  more  time  there  is  re 
quired  to  harmonize  its  components.  The  news  from  the  Far 
West  indicated  a  probability  of  some  important  operations 
taking  place,  although  my  first  love  —  the  arrny  of  the  Poto 
mac —  must  be  returned  to.  Any  way,  there  was  the  great 
Western  Prairie  to  be  seen,  and  the  people  who  have  been 
pouring  from  their  plains  so  many  thousands  upon  the  South 
ern  States  to  assert  the  liberties  of  those  colored  races  whom 
they  will  not  permit  to  cross  their  borders  as  freemen.  Mr. 
Lincoln,  Mr.  Blair,  and  other  Abolitionists,  are  actuated  by 
similar  sentiments,  and  seek  to  emancipate  the  slave,  and  re 
move  from  him  the  protection  of  his  master,  in  order  that 
they  may  drive  him  from  the  continent  altogether,  or  force 
him  to  seek  refuge  in  emigration. 

On  the  18th  of  September,  I  left  Baltimore  in  company 
with  Major-General  Bell,  C.  B.,  and  Mr.  Lamy,  who  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  Western  States :  stopping  one  night  at 
Altoona,  in  order  that  we  might  cross  by  daylight  the  fine 
passes  of  the  Alleganies,  which  are  traversed  by  bold  gradi 
ents,  and  remarkable  cuttings,  second  only  in  difficulty  and 
extent  to  those  of  the  railroad  across  the  Sommering. 

So  far  as  my  observation  extends,  no  route  in  the  United 
States  can  give  a  stranger  a  better  notion  of  the  variety  of 
scenery  and  of  resources,  the  vast  extent  of  territory,  the  dif 
ference  in  races,  the  prosperity  of  the  present,  and  the  proba 
ble  greatness  of  the  future,  than  the  line  from  Baltimore  by 
Harrisburg  and  Pittsburg  to  Chicago,  traversing  the  great 
States  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Indiana.  Plain  and  moun 
tain,  hill  and  valley,  river  and  meadow,  forest  and  rock,  wild 
tracts  through  which  the  Indian  roamed  but  a  few  years  ago, 
lands  covered  with  the  richest  crops ;  rugged  passes,  which 
Salvator  would  have  peopled  with  shadowy  groups  of  bandits ; 
23* 


538  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

gentle  sylvan  glades,  such  as  Gainsborough  would  have  cov 
ered  with  waving  corn ;  the  hum  of  mills,  the  silence  of  the 
desert  and  waste,  sea-like  lakes  whitened  by  innumerable  sails, 
mighty  rivers  carving  their  way  through  continents,  sparkling 
rivulets  that  lose  their  lives  amongst  giant  wheels  :  seams  and 
lodes  of  coal,  iron,  and  mineral  wealth,  cropping  out  of  desolate 
mountain  sides ;  busy,  restless  manufacturers  and  traders  al 
ternating  with  stolid  rustics,  hedges  clustering  with  grapes, 
mountains  whitening  with  snow ;  and  beyond,  the  great  Prai 
rie  stretching  away  to  the  backbone  of  inhospitable  rock, 
which,  rising  from  the  foundations  of  the  world,  bar  the  access 
of  the  white  man  and  civilization  to  the  bleak  inhospitable  re 
gions  beyond,  which  both  are  fain  as  yet  to  leave  to  the  savage 
and  wild  beast. 

Travelling  along  the  banks  of  the  Susquehannah,  the  visit 
or,  however,  is  neither  permitted  to  admire  the  works  of  na 
ture  in  silence,  or  to  express  his  admiration  of  the  energy  of 
man  in  his  own  way.  The  tyranny  of  public  opinion  is  upon 
him.  He  must  admit  that  he  never  saw  any  thing  so  wonder 
ful  in  his  life  ;  that  there  is  nothing  so  beautiful  anywhere 
else ;  no  fields  so  green,  no  rivers  so  wide  and  deep,  no 
bridges  so  lofty  and  long  ;  and  at  last  he  is  inclined  to  shut 
himself  up,  either  in  absolute  grumpy  negation,  or  to  indulge 
in  hopeless  controversy.  An  American  gentleman  is  as  little 
likely  as  any  other  well-bred  man  to  force  the  opinions  or  in 
terrupt  the  reveries  of  a  stranger ;  but  if  third-class  Esqui 
maux  are  allowed  to  travel  in  first-class  carriages,  the  hospi 
table  creatures  will  be  quite  likely  to  insist  on  your  swallow 
ing  train  oil,  eating  blubber,  or  admiring  snow-drifts,  as  the 
finest  things  in  the  world.  It  is  infinitely  to  the  credit  of  the 
American  people  that  actual  offence  is  so  seldom  given  and  is 
still  more  rarely  intended — always  save  and  except  in  the 
one  particular,  of  chewing  tobacco.  Having  seen  most  things 
that  can  irritate  one's  stomach,  and  being  in  company  with  an 
old  soldier,  I  little  expected  that  any  excess  of  the  sort  could 
produce  disagreeable  effects  ;  but  on  returning  from  this  ex 
cursion,  Mr.  Lamy  and  myself  were  fairly  driven  out  of  a 
carriage,  on  the  Pittsburg  line,  in  utter  loathing  and  disgust, 
by  the  condition  of  the  floor.  The  conductor,  passing  through, 
said,  "  You  must  not  stand  out  there,  it  is  against  the  rules  ; 
you  can  go  in  and  smoke,"  pointing  to  the  carriage.  "  In 
there ! "  exclaimed  my  friend,  "  why,  it  is  too  filthy  to  put  a 
wild  beast  into."  The  conductor  looked  in  for  a  moment, 


PITTSBURG.  539 

nodded  his  head,  and  said,  "  Well,  I  concede  it  is  right  bad  ; 
the  citizens  are  going  it  pretty  strong,"  and  so  left  us. 

The  scenery  along  the  Juniata  is  still  more  picturesque 
than  that  of  the  valley  of  the  Susquehannah.  The  borders  of 
the  route  across  the  Alleghanies  have  been  described  by 
many  a  writer ;  but  notwithstanding  the  good  fortune  which 
favored  us,  and  swept  away  the  dense  vale  of  vapors  on  the 
lower  ranges  of  the  hills,  the  landscape  scarcely  produced  the 
effect  of  scenery  on  a  less  extended  scale,  just  as  the  scenery 
of  the  Himalayas  is  not  so  striking  as  that  of  the  Alps,  be 
cause  it  is  on  too  vast  a  scale  to  be  readily  grasped. 

Pittsburg,  where  we  halted  next  night,  on  the  Ohio,  is  cer 
tainly,  with  the  exception  of  Birmingham,  the  most  intensely 
sooty,  busy,  squalid,  foul-housed,  and  vile-suburbed  city  I 
have  ever  seen.  Under  its  perpetual  canopy  of  smoke, 
pierced  by  a  forest  of  blackened  chimneys,  the  ill-paved 
streets,  swarm  with  a  streaky  population  whose  white  faces 
are  smutched  with  soot  streaks — the  noise  of  vans  and  drays 
which  shake  the  houses  as  they  pass,  the  turbulent  life  in  the 
thoroughfares,  the  wretched  brick  tenements,  —  built  in  waste 
places  on  squalid  mounds,  surrounded  by  heaps  of  slag  and 
broken  brick  —  all  these  gave  the  stranger  the  idea  of  some 
vast  manufacturing  city  of  the  Inferno  ;  and  yet  a  few  miles 
beyond,  the  country  is  studded  with  beautiful  villas,  and  the 
great  river,  bearing  innumerable  barges  and  steamers  on  its 
broad  bosom,  rolls  its  turbid  waters  between  banks  rich  with 
cultivated  crops. 

The  policeman  at  Pittsburg  station  —  a  burly  Englishman 
—  told  me  that  the  war  had  been  of  the  greatest  service  to 
the  city.  He  spoke  not  only  from  a  policeman's  point  of 
view,  when  he  said  that  all  the  rowdies,  Irish,  Germans,  and 
others  had  gone  off  to  the  war,  but  from  the  manufacturing 
stand-point,  as  he  added  that  wages  were  high,  and  that  the 
orders  from  contractors  were  keeping  all  the  manufacturers 
going.  "  It  is  wonderful,"  said  he,  "  what  a  number  of  the 
citizens  come  back  from  the  South,  by  rail,  in  these  new  me 
tallic  coffins." 

A  long,  long  day,  traversing  the  State  of  Indiana  by  the 
Fort  Wayne  route,  followed  by  a  longer  night,  just  sufficed 
to  carry  us  to  Chicago.  The  railway  passes  through  a  most 
uninteresting  country,  which  in  part  is  scarcely  rescued  from 
a  state  of  nature  by  the  hand  of  man  ;  but  it  is  wonderful  to 
see  so  much  done,  when  one  hears  that  the  Miami  Indians 


540  MY   DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

and  other  tribes  were  driven  out,  or,  as  the  phrase  is,  "  re 
moved,"  only  twenty  years  ago  —  "  conveyed,  the  wise  called 
it"  —  to  the  reserves. 

From  Chicago,  where  we  descended  at  a  hotel  which  fairly 
deserves  to  be  styled  magnificent,  for  comfort  and  complete 
ness,  Mr.  Lamy  and  myself  proceeded  to  Racine,  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  thence  took  the  rail  for  Free- 
port,  where  I  remained  for  some  days,  going  out  in  the  sur 
rounding  prairie  to  shoot  in  the  morning,  and  returning  at 
nightfall.  The  prairie  chickens  were  rather  wild.  The  de 
light  of  these  days,  notwithstanding  bad  sport,  cannot  be  de 
scribed,  nor  was  it  the  least  ingredient  in  it  to  mix  with  the 
fresh  and  vigorous  race  who  are  raising  up  cities  on  these 
fertile  wastes.  Fortunately  for  the  patience  of  my  readers, 
perhaps,  I  did  not  fill  my  diary  with  the  records  of  each  day's 
events,  or  of  the  contents  of  our  bags ;  and  the  note-book  in 
which  I  jotted  down  some  little  matters  which  struck  me  to 
be  of  interest  has  been  mislaid  ;  but  in  my  letters  to  England 
I  gave  a  description  of  the  general  aspect  of  the  country,  and 
of  the  feelings  of  the  people,  and  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  tax-gatherer  will  have  little  chance  of  returning  with 
full  note-books  from  his  tour  in  these  districts.  The  dogs 
which  were  lent  to  us  were  generally  abominable  ;  but  every 
evening  we  returned  in  company  with  great  leather-greaved 
and  jerkined-men,  hung  round  with  belts  and  hooks,  from 
which  were  suspended  strings  of  defunct  prairie  chickens. 
The  farmers  were  hospitable,  but  were  suffering  from  a  mor 
bid  longing  for  a  failure  of  crops  in  Europe,  in  order  to  give 
some  value  to  their  corn  and  wheat,  which  literally  cumbered 
the  earth. 

Freeport!  Who  ever  heard  of  it?  And  yet  it  has  its 
newspapers,  more  than  I  dare  mention,  and  its  big  hotel 
lighted  with  gas,  its  billiard-rooms  and  saloons,  magazines, 
railway  stations,  and  all  the  proper  paraphernalia  of  local 
self-government,  with  all  their  fierce  intrigues  and  giddy 
factions. 

From  Freeport  our  party  returned  to  Chicago,  taking  leave 
of  our  excellent  friend  and  companion  Mr.  George  Thompson, 
of  Racine.  The  authorities  of  the  Central  Illinois  Railway, 
to  whose  courtesy  and  consideration  I  was  infinitely  indebted, 
placed  at  our  disposal  a  magnificent  sleeping  carriage ;  and 
on  the  morning  after  our  arrival,  having  laid  in  a  good  stock 
of  supplies,  and  engaged  an  excellent  sporting  guide  and  dogs, 


A  NOVEL  SHOOTING-BOX.  ,541 

we  started,  attached  to  the  regular  train  from  Chicago,  until 
the  train  stopped  at  a  shunting  place  near  the  station  of 
Dwiglit,  in  the  very  centre  of  the  prairie.  We  reached  our 
halting-place,  were  detached,  and  were  shot  up  a  siding  in 
the  solitude,  with  no  habitation  in  view,  except  the  wood 
shanty,  in  which  lived  the  family  of  the  Irish  overseer  of  this 
portion  of  the  road  —  a  man  happy  in  the  possession  of  a 
piece  of  gold  which  he  received  from  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
and  for  which  he  declared  he  would  not  take  the  amount  of 
the  National  Debt. 

The  sleeping  carriage  proved  most  comfortable  quarters. 
After  breakfast  in  the  morning,  Mr.  Lamy,  Col.  Foster,  Mr. 

,  of  the  Central  Illinois  rail,  the  keeper,  and  myself, 

descending  the  steps  of  our  movable  house,  walked  in  a  few 
strides  to  the  shooting  grounds,  which  abounded  with  quail, 
but  were  not  so  well  peopled  by  the  chickens.  The  quail  were 
weak  on  the  wing,  owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  season,  and 
my  companions  grumbled  at  their  hard  luck,  though  I  was 
well  content  with  fresh  air,  my  small  share  of  birds,  and  a 
few  American  hares.  Night  and  morning  the  train  rushed 
by,  and  when  darkness  settled  down  upon  the  prairie,  our 
lamps  were  lighted,  dinner  was  served  in  the  carriage,  set 
forth  with  inimitable  potatoes  cooked  by  the  old  Irishwoman. 
From  the  dinner-table  it  was  but  a  step  to  go  to  bed.  When 
storm  or  rain  rushed  over  the  sea-like  plain,  I  remained  in  the 
carriage  writing,  and  after  a  long  spell  of  work,  it  was  inex 
pressibly  pleasant  to  take  a  ramble  through  the  flowering 
grass  and  the  sweet-scented  broom,  and  to  go  beating  through 
the  stunted  under-clover,  careless  of  rattle-snakes,  whose  tiny 
prattling  music  I  heard  often  enough  without  a  sight  of  the 
tails  that  made  it. 

One  rainy  morning,  the  29th  September,  I  think,  as  the  sun 
began  to  break  through  drifting  rain  clouds,  I  saw  my  com 
panions  preparing  their  guns,  the  sporting  chaperon  Walker 
filling  the  shot  flasks,  and  making  all  the  usual  arrangements 
for  a  day's  shooting.  "  You  don't  mean  to  say  you  are  going 
out  shooting  on  a  Sunday  !  "  I  said.  "  What,  on  the  prairies  ! " 
exclaimed  Colonel  Foster.  "  Why,  of  course  we  are  ;  there's 
nothing  wrong  in  it  here.  What  nobler  temple  can  we  find 
to  worship  in  than  lies  around  us  ?  It  is  the  custom  of  the 
people  hereabouts  to  shoot  on  Sundays,  and  it  is  a  work  of 
necessity  with  us,  for  our  larder  is  very  low." 

And  so,  after  breakfast,  we  set  out,  but  the  rain  came  down 


542  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

so  densely  that  we  were  driven  to  the  house  of  a  farmer,  and 
finally  we  returned  to  our  sleeping  carriage  for  the  day.  I 
never  fired  a  shot  nor  put  a  gun  to  my  shoulder,  nor  am  I 
sure  that  any  of  my  companions  killed  a  bird. 

The  rain  fell  with  violence  all  day,  and  at  night  the  gusts 
of  wind  shook  the  carriage  like  a  ship  at  sea.  We  were  sit 
ting  at  table  after  dinner,  when  the  door  at  the  end  of  the 
carriage  opened,  and  a  man  in  a  mackintosh  dripping  wet, 
advanced  with  unsteady  steps  along  the  centre  of  the  carriage, 
between  the  beds,  and  taking  off  his  hat,  in  the  top  of  which 
he  searched  diligently,  stood  staring  with  lack-lustre  eyes 
from  one  to  the  other  of  the  party,  till  Colonel  Foster  ex 
claimed,  "  Well,  sir,  what  do  you  want  ?  " 

"  What  do  I  want,"  he  replied,  with  a  slight  thickness  of 
speech,  "  which  of  you  is  the  Honorable  Lord  William  Rus 
sell,  correspondent  of  the  London  Ti?nes?  That's  what  I 
want." 

I  certified  to  my  identity ;  whereupon,  drawing  a  piece  of 
paper  out  of  his  hat,  he  continued,  "  Then  I  arrest  you,  Hon 
orable  Lord  William  Russell,  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  the 
commonwealth  of  Illinois,"  and  thereupon  handed  me  a 
document,  declaring  that  one  Morgan,  of  D wight,  having 
come  before  him  that  day  and  sworn  that  I,  with  a  company 
of  men  and  dogs,  had  unlawfully  assembled,  and  by  firing 
shots,  and  by  barking  arid  noise,  had  disturbed  the  peace  of 
the  State  of  Illinois,  he,  the  subscriber  or  justice  of  the  peace, 
as  named  and  described,  commanded  the  constable  Podgers, 
or  whatever  his  name  was,  to  bring  my  body  before  him  to 
answer  to  the  charge. 

Now  this  town  of  Dwight  was  a  good  many  miles  away, 
the  road  was  declared  by  those  who  knew  it  to  be  very  bad, 
the  night  was  pitch  dark,  the  rain  falling  in  torrents,  and  as 
the  constable,  drawing  out  of  his  hat  paper  after  paper  with 
the  names  of  impossible  persons  upon  them,  served  subposnas 
on  all  the  rest  of  the  party  to  appear  next  morning,  the  anger 
of  Colonel  Foster  could  scarcely  be  restrained,  by  kicks  under 
the  table  and  nods  and  becks  and  wreathed  smiles  from  the 
rest  of  the  party.  "  This  is  infamous  !  It  is  a  political  perse 
cution!"  he  exclaimed,  whilst  the  keeper  joined  in  chorus, 
declaring  he  never  heard  of  such  a  proceeding  before  in  all 
his  long  experience  of  the  prairie,  and  never  knew  there  was 
such  an  act  in  existence.  The  Irishmen  in  the  hut  added 
that  the  informer  himself  generally  went  out  shooting  every 


THE  MAX   OF  DWIGHT.  543 

Sunday.  However,  I  could  not  but  regret  I  had  given  the 
fellow  an  opportunity  of  striking  at  me,  and  though  I  was  the 
only  one  of  the  party  who  raised  an  objection  to  our  going 
out  at  all,  I  was  deservedly  suffering  for  the  impropriety  — 
to  call  it  here  by  no  harsher  name. 

The  constable,  a  man  with  a  liquid  eye  and  a  cheerful 
countenance,  paid  particular  attention  meantime  to  a  large 
bottle  upon  the  table,  and  as  I  professed  my  readiness  to  go 
the  moment  he  had  some  refreshment  that  very  wet  night, 
the  stern  severity  becoming  a  minister  of  justice,  which 
marked  his  first  utterances,  was  sensibly  mollified :  and  when 

Mr. proposed  that  he  should  drive  back  with  him  and 

see  the  prosecutor,  he  was  good  enough  to  accept  my  written 
acknowledgment  of  the  service  of  the  writ,  and  promise  to 
appear  the  following  morning,  as  an  adequate  discharge  of 
his  duty  —  combined  with  the  absorption  of  some  Bourbon 
whiskey  —  and  so  retired. 

Mr.  returned  late  at  night,  and  very  angry.  It  ap 
pears  that  the  prosecutor  —  who  is  not  a  man  of  very  good 
reputation,  and  whom  his  neighbors  were  as  much  astonished 
to  find  the  champion  of  religious  observances  as  they  would 
have  been  if  he  was  to  come  forward  to  insist  on  the  respect 
due  to  the  seventh  commandment  —  with  the  insatiable  pas 
sion  for  notoriety,  which  is  one  of  the  worst  results  of  Amer 
ican  institutions,  thought  he  would  gain  himself  some  little 
reputation  by  causing  annoyance  to  a  man  so  unpopular  as 
myself.  He  and  a  companion  having  come  from  Dwight  for 
the  purpose,  and  hiding  in  the  neighborhood,  had,  therefore, 
devoted  their  day  to  lying  in  wait  and  watching  our  party ; 
and  as  they  were  aware  in  the  railway  carriage  I  was  with 
Colonel  Foster,  they  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  out  the  names 
of  the  rest  of  the  party.  The  magistrate  being  his  relative, 
granted  the  warrant  at  once ;  and  the  prosecutor,  who  was  in 
waiting  for  the  constable,  was  exceedingly  disappointed  when 
he  found  that  I  had  not  been  dragged  through  the  rain. 

Next  morning,  a  special  engine  which  had  been  ordered  up 
by  telegraph  appeared  alongside  the  car ;  and  a  short  run 
through  a  beautiful  country  brought  us  to  the  prairie  town  of 
Dwight.  The  citizens  were  astir  —  it  was  a  great  day  —  and 
as  I  walked  with  Colonel  Foster,  all  the  good  people  seemed 
to  be  enjoying  an  unexampled  treat  in  gazing  at  the  stupen 
dous  criminal.  The  court-house,  or  magistrate's  office,  was 
suitable  to  the  republican  simplicity  of  the  people  of  Dwight ; 


544  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

for  the  chamber  of  justice  was  on  the  first  floor  of  a  house 
over  a  store,  and  access  was  obtained  to  it  by  a  ladder  from 
the  street  to  a  platform  at  the  top  of  which  I  was  ushered  into 
the  presence  of  the  court,  a  plain  white-washed  room.  I  am 
not  sure  there  was  even  an  engraving  of  George  Washington 
on  the  walls.  The  magistrate  in  a  full  suit  of  black,  with  his 
hat  on,  was  seated  at  a  small  table ;  behind  him  a  few  books, 
on  plain  deal  shelves,  provided  his  fund  of  legal  learning. 
The  constable,  with  a  severer  visage  than  that  of  last  night, 
stood  upon  the  right  hand ;  three  sides  of  the  room  were  sur 
rounded  by  a  wall  of  stout  honest  Dwightians,  among  whom 
I  produced  a  profound  sensation,  by  the  simple  ceremony  of 
taking  off  my  hat,  which  they  no  doubt  considered  a  token  of 
the  degraded  nature  of  the  Britisher,  but  which  moved  the 
magistrate  to  take  off  his  head-covering ;  whereupon  some  of 
the  nearest  removed  theirs,  some  putting  them  on  again,  and 
some  remaining  uncovered ;  and  then  the  informations  were 
read,  and  on  being  asked  what  I  had  to  say,  I  merely  bowed, 
and  said  I  had  no  remarks  to  offer.  But  my  friend.  Colonel 
Foster,  who  had  been  churning  up  his  wrath  and  forensic 
lore  for  some  time,  putting  one  hand  under  his  coat  tail,  and 
elevating  the  other  in  the  air,  with  modulated  cadences, 
poured  out  a  fine  oratorical  flow  which  completely  astonished 
me,  and  whipped  the  audience  morally  off  their  legs  com 
pletely.  In  touching  terms  he  described  the  mission  of  an 
illustrious  stranger,  who  had  wandered  over  thousands  of 
miles  of  land  and  sea  to  gaze  upon  the  beauties  of  those 
prairies  which  the  Great  Maker  of  the  Universe  had  expanded 
as  the  banqueting  tables  for  the  famishing  millions  of  pauper 
ized  and  despotic  Europe.  As  the  representative  of  an  influ 
ence  which  the  people  of  the  great  State  of  Illinois  should 
wish  to  see  developed  instead  of  contracted,  honored  instead 
of  being  insulted,  he  had  come  among  them  to  admire  the 
grandeur  of  nature,  and  to  behold  with  wonder  the  magnifi 
cent  progress  of  human  happiness  and  free  institutions. 
(Some  thumping  of  sticks,  and  cries  of  "  Bravo,  that's  so," 
which  warmed  the  Colonel  into  still  higher  flights).  I  began 
to  feel  if  he  was  as  great  in  invective  as  he  was  in  eulogy,  it 
was  well  he  had  not  lived  to  throw  a  smooth  pebble  from  his 
sling  at  Warren  Hastings.  As  great  indeed !  Why,  when 
the  Colonel  had  drawn  a  beautiful  picture  of  me  examining 
coal  deposits  —  investigating  strata  —  breathing  autumnal 
airs,  and  culling  flowers  in  unsuspecting  innocence,  and  then 


THE  COLONEL'S  ORATION.  545 

suddenly  denounced  the  serpent  who  had  dogged  my  steps 
in  order  to  strike  me  down  with  a  justice's  warrant,  I  protest 
it  is  doubtful,  if  he  did  not  reach  to  the  most  elevated  stage'  of 
vituperative  oratory,  the  progression  of  which  was  marked  by 
increasing  thumps  of  sticks,  and  louder  murmurs  of  applause, 
to  the  discomfiture  of  the  wretched  prosecutor.  But  the 
magistrate  was  not  a  man  of  imagination ;  he  felt  he  was  but 
elective  after  all ;  and  so,  with  his  eye  fixed  upon  his  book, 
he  pronounced  his  decision,  which  was  that  I  be  amerced  in 
something  more  than  half  the  maximum  fine  fixed  by  the 
statute,  some  five-and-twenty  shillings  or  so,  the  greater  part 
to  be  spent  in  the  education  of  the  people  by  transfer  to  the 
school  fund  of  the  State. 

As  I  was  handing  the  notes  to  the  magistrate,  several  re 
spectable  men  coming  forward  exclaimed,  "  Pray  oblige  us, 
Mr.  Russell,  by  letting  us  pay  the  amount  for  you  ;  this  is  a 
shameful  proceeding."  But  thanking  them  heartily  for  their 
proffered  kindness,  I  completed  the  little  pecuniary  transaction 
and  wished  the  magistrate  good  morning,  with  the  remark 
that  I  hoped  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois  would  always 
find  such  worthy  defenders  of  the  statutes  as  the  prosecutor, 
and  never  have  offenders  against  their  peace  arid  morals  more 
culpable  than  myself.  Having  undergone  a  severe  scolding 
from  an  old  woman  at  the  top  of  the  ladder,  I  walked  to  the 
train,  followed  by  a  number  of  the  audience,  who  repeatedly 
expressed  their  extreme  regret  at  the  little  persecution  to 
which  I  had  been  subjected.  The  prosecutor  had  already 
made  arrangements  to  send  the  news  over  the  whole  breadth 
of  the  Union,  which  was  his  only  reward  ;  as  I  must  do  the 
American  papers  the  justice  to  say  that,  with  a  few  natural 
exceptions,  those  which  noticed  the  occurrence  unequivocally 
condemned  his  conduct. 

That  evening,  as  we  were  planning  an  extension  of  our 
sporting  tour,  the  mail  rattling  by  deposited  our  letters  and 
papers,  and  we  saw  at  the  top  of  many  columns  the  startling 
words,  "  Grand  Advance  of  the  Union  Army."  "  McClellan 
Marching  on  Richmond."  "  Capture  of  Munson's  Hill."  "  Re 
treat  of  the  Enemy  —  30,000  Men  seize  their  Fortifications." 
Not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost ;  if  I  was  too  late,  I  never  would 
forgive  myself.  Our  carriage  was  hooked  on  to  the  return 
train,  and  at  8  o'clock  p.  M.  I  started  on  my  return  to  Wash- 
inton,  by  way  of  Cleveland. 

At  half-past  3  on  the  1st  October  the  train  reached  Pitts- 


546  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

burg,  just  too  late  to  catch  the  train  for  Baltimore ;  but  I  con 
tinued  my  journey  at  night,  arriving  at  Baltimore  after  noon, 
and  reaching  Washington  at  6  P.  M.  on  the  2d  of  October. 

October  3d.  —  In  Washington  once  more  —  all  the  world 
laughing  at  the  pump  and  the  wooden  guns  at  Munson's  Hill,  but 
angry  withal  because  McClellan  should  be  so  befooled  as  they 
considered  it,  by  the  Confederates.  The  fact  is  McClellan  was 
not  prepared  to  move,  and  therefore  not  disposed  to  hazard  a 
general  engagement,  which  he  might  have  brought  on  had  the 
enemy  been  in  force ;  perhaps  he  knew  they  were  not,  but 
found  it  convenient  nevertheless  to  act  as  though  he  believed 
they  had  established  themselves  strongly  in  his  front,  as  half 
the  world  will  give  him  credit  for  knowing  more  than  the 
civilian  strategists  who  have  already  got  into  disgrace  for  urg 
ing  McDowell  on  to  Richmond.  The  Federal  armies  are  not 
handled  easily.  They  are  luxurious  in  the  matter  of  baggage, 
and  canteens,  and  private  stores  ;  and  this  is  just  the  sort  of 
war  in  which  the  general  who  moves  lightly  and  rapidly, 
striking  blows  unexpectedly  and  deranging  communications, 
will  obtain  great  results. 

Although  Beauregard's  name  is  constantly  mentioned,  I 
fancy  that,  crafty  and  reticent  as  he  is,  the  operations  in 
front  of  us  have  been  directed  by  an  officer  of  larger  capacity. 
As  yet  McClellan  has  certainly  done  nothing  in  the  Held  to 
show  he  is  like  Napoleon.  The  value  of  his  labors  in  camp 
has  yet  to  be  tested.  I  dined  at  the  Legation,  and  afterwards 
there  was  a  meeting  at  my  rooms,  where  I  heard  of  all  that 
had  passed  during  my  absence. 

October  4th.  —  The  new  expedition  of  which  I  have  been 
hearing  for  some  time  past,  is  about  to  sail  to  Port  Royal, 
under  the  command  of  General  Burnside,  in  order  to  reduce 
the  works  erected  at  the  entrance  of  the  Sound,  to  secure  a 
base  of  operations  against  Charleston,  and  to  cut  in  upon  the 
communication  between  that  place  and  Savannah.  Alas,  for 
poor  Trescott !  his  plantations,  his  secluded  home !  What 
will  the  good  lady  think  of  the  Yankee  invasion,  which  surely 
must  succeed,  as  the  naval  force  will  be  overwhelming  ?  I 
visited  the  division  of  General  Egbert  Viele,  encamped  near 
the  Navy-yard,  which  is  bound  to  Annapolis,  as  a  part  of 
General  Burnside's  expedition.  When  first  I  saw  him,  the 
general  was  an  emeritus  captain,  attached  to  the  7th  New 
York  Militia ;  now  he  is  a  Brigadier-General,  if  not  some 
thing  more,  commanding  a  corps  of  nearly  5000  men,  with 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  PETITION.  547 

pay  and  allowances  to  match.  His  good  lady  wife,  who 
accompanied  him  in  the  Mexican  campaign,  —  whereof  came 
a  book,  lively  and  light,  as  a  lady's  book  should  be,  —  was 
about  to  accompany  her  husband  in  his  assault  on  the  Caro 
linians,  and  prepared  for  action  by  opening  a  small  broad 
side  on  my  unhappy  self,  whom  she  regarded  as  an  enemy 
of  our  glorious  Union ;  and  therefore  an  ally  of  the  Evil 
Powers  on  both  sides  of  the  grave.  The  women,  North  and 
South  are  equally  pitiless  to  their  enemies ;  and  it  was  but  the 
other  day  a  man  with  whom  I  am  on  very  good  terms  in 
Washington  made  an  apology  for  not  asking  me  to  his  house, 
because  his  wife  was  a  strong  Union  woman. 

A  gentleman  who  had  been  dining  with  Mr.  Seward  to-night 
told  me  the  Minister  had  complained  that  I  had  not  been  near 
him  for  nearly  two  months ;  the  fact  was,  however,  that  I  had 
called  twice  immediately  after  the  appearance  in  America 
of  my  letter  dated  July  22d,  and  had  met  Mr.  Seward  after 
wards,  when  his  manner  was,  or  appeared  to  me  to  be,  cold 
and  distant,  and  I  had  therefore  abstained  from  intruding  my 
self  upon  his  notice ;  nor  did  his  answer  to  the  Philadelphian 
petition  —  in  which  Mr.  Seward  appeared  to  admit  the  allega 
tions  made  against  me  were  true,  and  to  consider  I  had  vio 
lated  the  hospitality  accorded  me  —  induce  me  to  think  that 
he  did  not  entertain  the  opinion  which  these  journals  which 
set  themselves  up  to  be  his  organs  had  so  repeatedly  ex 
pressed. 


CHAPTER  LVIL 

Another  Crimean  acquaintance  —  Summary  dismissal  of  a  newspaper 
correspondent  —  Dinner  at  Lord  Lyons' — Review  of  artillery  — 
"  Habeas  Corpus  "  —  The  President's  duties  —  McClellan's  policy 
—  The  Union  Army  —  Soldiers  and  the  patrol  —  Public  men  in 
America  —  Mr.  Seward  and  Lord  Lyons  —  A  Judge  placed  under 
arrest  —  Death  and  funeral  of  Senator  Baker  —  Disorderly  troops 
and  officers  —  Official  fibs  —  Duck-shooting  at  Baltimore. 

October  5th.  —  A  day  of  heat  extreme.  Tumbled  in  upon 
me  an  old  familiar  face  and  voice,  once  Forster  of  a  hospitable 
Crimean  hut  behind  Mother  Seacole's,  commanding  a  battalion 
of  Land  Transport  Corps,  to  which  he  had  descended  or  sub 
limated  from  his  position  as  ex-Austrian  dragoon  and  beau 
sabreur  under  old  Radetzsky  in  Italian  wars ;  now  a  colonel 
of  distant  volunteers,  and  a  member  of  the  Parliament  of  Brit 
ish  Columbia.  He  was  on  his  way  home  to  Europe,  and  had 
travelled  thus  far  out  of  his  way  to  see  his  friend. 

After  him  came  in  a  gentleman,  heated,  wild-eyed,  and 
excited,  who  had  been  in  the  South,  where  he  was  acting  as 
correspondent  to  a  London  newspaper,  and  on  his  return  to 
Washington  had  obtained  a  pass  from  General  Scott.  Ac 
cording  to  his  own  story,  he  had  been  indulging  in  a  habit 
which  free-born  Englishmen  may  occasionally  find  to  be  in 
convenient  in  foreign  countries  in  times  of  high  excitement, 
and  had  been  expressing  his  opinion  pretty  freely  in  favor 
of  the  Southern  cause  in  the  bar-rooms  of  Pennsylvania  Ave 
nue.  Imagine  a  Frenchman  going  about  the  taverns  of  Dub 
lin  during  an  Irish  rebellion,  expressing  his  sympathy  with 
the  rebels,  and  you  may  suppose  he  would  meet  with  treat 
ment  at  least  as  peremptory  as  that  which  the  Federal  author 
ities  gave  Mr.  D .  In  fine,  that  morning  early,  he  had 

been  waited  upon  by  an  officer,  who  requested  his  attendance 
at  the  Provost-Marshal's  office;  arrived  there,  a  functionary, 
after  a  few  queries,  asked  him  to  give  up  General  Scott's  pass, 
and  when  Mr.  D refused  to  do  so,  proceeded  to  execute 


EEVIEW  OF  THE  ARTILLERY.  549 

a  terrible  sort  of  proces  verbal  on  a  large  sheet  of  foolscap, 
the  initiatory  flourishes  and  prolegomena  of  which  so  intimi 
dated  Mr.  D ,  that  he  gave  up  his  pass  and  was  permitted 

to  depart,  in  order  that  he  might  start  for  England  by  the  next 
steamer. 

A  wonderful  Frenchman,  who  lives  up  a  back  street,  pre 
pared  a  curious  banquet,  at  which  Mr.  Irvine,  Mr.  Warre, 
Mr.  Anderson,  Mr.  Lamy,  and  Colonel  Foster  assisted  ;  and' 
in  the  evening  Mr.  Lincoln's  private  secretary,  a  witty,  shrewd, 
and  pleasant  young  fellow,  who  looks  little  more  than  eighteen 
years  of  age,  came  in  with  a  friend,  whose  name  I  forget ;  and 
by  degrees  the  circle  expanded,  till  the  walls  seemed  to  have 
become  elastic,  so  great  was  the  concourse  of  guests. 

October  6th. — A  day  of  wandering  around,  and  visiting,  and 
listening  to  rumors  all  unfounded.  J  have  applied  for  permis 
sion  to  accompany  the  Burnside  expedition,  but  I  am  advised 
not  to  leave  Washington,  as  McClellan  will  certainly  advance 
as  soon  as  the  diversion  has  been  made  down  South. 

October  7th.  —  The  heat  to-day  was  literally  intolerable,  and 
wound  up  at  last  in  a  tremendous  thunder-storm  with  violent 
gusts  of  rain.  At  the  Legation,  where  Lord  Lyons  entertained 
the  English  visitors  at  dinner,  the  rooms  were  shaken  by  thun 
der-claps,  and  the  blinding  lightning  seemed  at  times  to  turn 
the  well-illuminated  rooms  into  caves  of  darkness. 

October  8th.  —  A  review  of  the  artillery  at  this  side  of  the 
river  took  place  to-day,  which  has  been  described  in  very  in 
flated  language  by  the  American  papers,  the  writers  on  which 
—  never  having  seen  a  decently-equipped  force  of  the  kind  — 
pronounce  the  sight  to  have  been  of  unequalled  splendor ; 
whereas  the  appearance  of  horses  and  men  was  very  far  from 
respectable  in  all  matters  relating  to  grooming,  cleanliness,  and 
neatness.  General  Barry  has  done  wonders  in  simplifying  the 
force  and  reducing  the  number  of  calibres,  which  varied  ac 
cording  to  the  fancy  of  each  State,  or  men  of  each  officer  who 
raised  a  battery  ;  but  there  are  still  field-guns  of  three  inches 
and  of  three  inches  and  a  half,  Napoleon  guns,  rifled  ten-pound 
Parrotts,  ordinary  nine-pounders,  a  variety  of  howitzers,  twenty- 
pound  Parrott  rifled  guns,  and  a  variety  of  different  projectiles 
in  the  caissons.  As  the  men  rode  past,  the  eye  was  distressed  by 
discrepancies  in  dress.  Many  wore  red  or  white  worsted  com 
forters  round  their  necks,  few  had  straps  to  their  trousers  ; 
borne  had  new  coats,  others  old ;  some  wore  boots,  others 
shoes ;  not  one  had  clean  spurs,  bits,  curb-chains,  or  buttons. 


550  MT  DIABT  XOETH  AXD  SOUTH. 

The  officers  cannot  get  the  men  to  do  what  the  latter  regard 
as  works  of  supererogation. 

There  were  72  guns  in  all :  and  if  the  horses  were  not  so 
light,  there  would  be  quite  enough  to  do  for  the  Confederates 
to  reduce  their  fire,  as  the  pieces  are  easily  handled,  and  the 
men  like  artillery  and  take  to  it  naturally,  being  in  that  respect 
something  like  the  natives  of  India. 

Whilst  I  was  standing  in  the  crowd,  I  heard  a  woman  say, 
"  I  doubt  if  that  Russell  is  riding  about  here.  I  should  just 
like  to  see  him  to  give  him  a  piece  of  my  mind.  They  say 
be**  honest,  bat  I  call  him  a  poor  pre-jewdiced  Britisher. 
This  sight  Tl  give  him  fits."  I  was  quite  delighted  at  my 
incognito.  If  the  caricatures  were  at  all  like  me,  I  should 
have  what  the  Americans  call  a  bad  time  of  it. 

On  the  return  of  the  batteries  a  shell  exploded  in  a  caisson 
jost  m  front  of  the  President's  bouse,  and.  miraculous  to  state, 
did  not  fire  the  other  projectiles.  Had  it  done  so.  the  destruc 
tion  of  life  in  the  crowded  street  —  blocked  up  with  artillery, 
•m,  and  horses,  and  crowds  of  men.  women,  and  children  — 
hare  been  truly  frightful.  Such  accidents  are  not  un- 
—  a  wagon  blew  up  the  other  day  "out  West,"  and 
•ded  several  people :  and  though  the  accidents 
re-arms  are  not  so  numerous  as  they  were,  there 
are  still  enough  to  present  a  heavy  casualty  list. 

Whilst  the  artillery  were  delighting  the  citizens,  a  much 
more  important  matter  was  taking  place  in  an  obscure  little 
coot-house  —  much  more  destructive  to  their  freedom,  hap 
piness,  and  greatness  than  all  the  Confederate  guns  which  can 
ever  be  ranged  against  them,  A  brave,  upright,  and  honest 
judge,  as  in  duty  bound,  issued  a  writ  of  habecu  corpus,  sued 
out  by  the  friends  of  a  minor,  who.  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  had  been  enlisted  by  an  American  general,  and 
was  detained  by  him  in  the  ranks  of  his  regiment.  The  of 
ficer  refased  to  obey  the  writ,  whereupon  the  judge  issued  an 
attachment  against  him,  and  the  Federal  Brigadier  came  into 
court  and  pleaded  that  he  took  that  course  by  order  of  the 
President.  The  court  adjourned,  to  consider  the  steps  it 
Jfcndd  take. 

I  hare  just  seen  a  paragraph  in  the  local  paper,  copied 
from  a  west  country  journal,  headed  "Good  for  Russell," 
explain  the  unusually  favorable  impression  ex- 
by  the  women  this  morning.  It  is  an  account  of  the 
I  had  with  the  officer  who  came  "  to  trade  "  for  my 


STOEIES,  551 

horse,  written  by  the  latter  to  a  Green  Bar  newspaper,  in 
which,  having  duly  censured  my  **  John  Bullism "  in  not  re 
ceiving  with  the  utmost  courtesy  a  stranger,  who  walked  into 
his  room  before  breakfast  on  business  unknown,  he  relates  as 
a  proof  of  honesty  (in  such  a  rare  field  as  trading  in  horse-flesh) 
that,  thousrh  my  groom  had  sought  to  put  ten  dollars  in  my 
pocket  by  a  mild  exaggeration  of  the  amount  paid  for  the 
animal  which  was  the  price  I  said  I  would  take,  I  would  not 
have  it 

October  Sth,  —  A  cold,  gloomy  day.  I  am  laid  up  with  the 
fever  and  ague,  which  visit  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  in  au 
tumn.  It  annoyed  me  the  more  because  General  McClellan 
is  making  a  reconnoissance  to-day  towards  Lewinsviile,  with 
10,000  men.  A  gentleman  from  the  War  Department  visited 
me  to-day,  and  gave  me  scanty  hopes  of  procuring  any  assist 
ance  from  the  authorities  in  taking  the  field.  Civility  costs 
nothing,  and  certainly  if  it  did  United  States  olficials  would 
require  high  salaries,  but  they  often  content  themselves  with 
fair  words. 

There  are  some  things  about  our  neighbors  which  we  may 
never  hope  to  understand.  To-day,  for  instance,  a  respectable 
person,  high  in  office,  having  been  good  enough  to  invite  me 
to  his  house,  added  -  You  shall  see  Mrs.  A.,  sir.  She  is  a 
very  pretty  and  agreeable  young  lady,  and  will  prove  nice 
society  for  you,"11  meaning  his  wife. 

Mr.  N.  P.  Willis  was  good  enough  to  call  on  me,  and  in  the 
course  of  conversation  said,  - 1  hear  MeCIellan  tells  you  every 
thing.  When  you  went  away  West  I  was  very  near  going 
after  you.  as  I  suspected  you  heard  something."  Mr.  Willis 
could  have  had  no  grounds  for  this  remark,  for  very  certainly 
it  has  no  foundation  in  fact.  Truth  to  tell.  General  MeCIellan 
seemed,  the  last  time  I  saw  him,  a  little  alarmed  by  a  para 
graph  in  a  New  York  paper,  from  the  Washington  corre 
spondent,  in  which  it  was  invidiously  stated,  **  General  Me 
CIellan,  attended  by  Mr.  Russell,  correspondent  of  the  London 
*  Times, '  visited  the  camps  to-day.  All  passes  to  civilians  and 
others  were  revoked."  There  was  not  the  smallest  ground  for 
the  statement  on  the  day  in  question,  but  I  am  resolved  not  to 
contradict  anything  which  is  said  about  me,  but  the  General 
could  not  well  do  so ;  and  one  of  the  lavorite  devices  of  the 
Washington  correspondent  to  fill  up  his  columns,  is  to  write 
something  about  me,  to  state  I  have  been  refused  passes,  or 
have  got  them,  or  whatever  else  he  likes  to  say. 


552  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Calling  on  the  General  the  other  night  at  his  usual  time  of 
return,  I  was  told  by  the  orderly,  who  was  closing  the  door, 
'"  The  General's  gone  to  bed  tired,  and  can  see  no  one.  He 
sent  the  same  message  to  the  President,  who  came  inquiring 
after  him  ten  minutes  ago." 

This  poor  President !  He  is  to  be  pitied ;  surrounded  by 
such  scenes,  and  trying  with  all  his  might  to  understand 
strategy,  naval  warfare,  big  guns,  the  movements  of  troops, 
military  maps,  reconnoissances,  occupations,  interior  and  ex 
terior  lines,  and  all  the  technical  details  of  the  art  of  slaying. 
He  runs  from  one  house  to  another,  armed  with  plans,  papers, 
reports,  recommendations,  sometimes  good-humored,  never  an 
gry,  occasionally  dejected,  and  always  a  little  fussy.  The 
other  night,  as  I  was  sitting  in  the  parlor  at  head-quarters, 
with  an  English  friend  who  had  come  to  see  his  old  acquaint 
ance  the  General,  walked  in  a  tall  man  with  a  navvy's  cap, 
and  an  ill-made  shooting-suit,  from  the  pockets  of  which  pro 
truded  paper  and  bundles.  "  Well,"  said  he  to  Brigadier  Van 
Vliet,  who  rose  to  receive  him,  "  is  George  in  ?•" 

"  Yes,  sir.  He's  come  back,  but  is  lying  down,  very  much 
fatigued.  I'll  send  up,  sir,  and  inform  him  you  wish  to  see 
him." 

"  Oh,  no  ;  I  can  wait.  I  think  I'll  take  supper  with  him. 
Well,  and  what  are  you  now,  —  I  forget  your  name  —  are  you 
a  major,  or  a  colonel,  or  a  general  ?  "  "  Whatever  you  like  to 
make  me,  sir." 

Seeing  that  General  McClellan  would  be  occupied,  I  walked 
out  with  my  friend,  who  asked  me  when  I  got  into  the  street 
why  I  stood  up  when  that  tall  fellow  came  into  the  room. 
"  Because  it  was  the  President."  "  The  President  of  what  ?  " 
"  Of  the  United  States."  "  Oh  !  come,  now  you're  humbug 
ging  me.  Let  me  have  another  look  at  him."  He  came 
back  more  incredulous  than  ever,  but  when  I  assured  him 
I  was  quite  serious,  he  exclaimed,  "  I  give  up  the  United 
States  after  this." 

But  for  all  that,  there  have  been  many  more  courtly  presi 
dents  who,  in  a  similar  crisis,  would  have  displayed  less  capac 
ity,  honesty,  and  plain  dealing  than  Abraham  Lincoln. 

October  10th.  —  I  got  hold  of  McClelland  report  on  the 
Crimean  war,  and  made  a  few  candid  remarks  on  the  per 
formance,  which  does  not  evince  any  capacity  beyond  the 
reports  of  our  itinerant  artillery  officers  who  are  sent  from 
Woolwich  abroad  for  their  country's  good.  I  like  the  man, 


M'CLELLAN  AND  THE  AP.MY.  553 

but  I  do  not  think  he  is  equal  to  his  occasion  or  his  place. 
There  is  one  little  piece  of  policy  which  shows  he  is  looking 
ahead  —  either  to  gain  the  good-will  of  the  army,  or  for  some 
larger  object.  All  his  present  purpose  is  to  make  himself 
known  to  the  men  personally,  to  familiarize  them  with  his 
appearance,  to  gain  the  acquaintance  of  the  officers ;  and  witli 
this  object  he  spends  nearly  every  day  in  the  camps,  riding 
out  at  nine  o'clock,  and  not  returning  till  long  after  nightfall, 
examining  the  various  regiments  as  he  goes  along,  and  having 
incessant  inspections  and  reviews.  He  is  the  first  Republican 
general  who  could  attempt  to  do  all  this  without  incurring 
censure  and  suspicion.  Unfortunate  McDowell  could  not  in 
spect  his  small  army  without  receiving  a  hint  that  he  must  not 
assume  such  airs,  as  they  were  more  becoming  a  military 
despot  than  a  simple  lieutenant  of  the  great  democracy. 

October  \\th.  — Mr.  Mure,  who  has  arrived  here  in  wretched 
health  from  New  Orleans,  after  a  protracted  and  very  un 
pleasant  journey  through  country  swarming  with  troops  mixed 
with  guerrillas,  tells  me  that  I  am  more  detested  in  New  Or 
leans  than  I  am  in  New  York.  This  is  ever  the  fate  of  the 
neutral,  if  the  belligerents  can  get  him  between  them.  The 
Girondins  and  men  of  the  juste  milieu  are  ever  fated  to  be 
ground  to  powder.  The  charges  against  me  were  disposed  of 
by  Mr.  Mure,  who  says  that  what  I  wrote  of  in  New  Orleans 
was  true,  and  has  shown  it  to  be  so  in  his  correspondence  with 
the  Governor,  but,  over  and  beyond  that,  I  am  disliked,  be 
cause  I  do  not  praise  the  peculiar  institution.  He  amused  me 
by  adding  that  the  mayor  of  Jackson,  with  whom  I  sojourned, 
had  published  "  a  card,"  denying  point-blank  that  he  had  ever 
breathed  a  word  to  indicate  that  the  good  citizens  around  him 
were  not  famous  for  the  love  of  law,  order,  and  life,  and  a 
scrupulous  regard  to  personal  liberty.  I  can  easily  fancy 
Jackson  is  not  a  place  where  a  mayor  suspected  by  the  citi 
zens  would  be  exempted  from  difficulties  now  and  then  ;  and 
if  this  disclaimer  does  my  friend  any  good,  he  is  very  heartily 
welcome  to  it  and  more.  I  have  received  several  letters  lately 
from  the  parents  of  minors,  asking  me  to  assist  them  in  getting 
back  their  sons,  who  have  enlisted  illegally  in  the  Federal 
army.  My  writ  does  not  run  any  further  than  a  Federal 
judge's. 

October  1 2th.  —  The  good  people  of  New  York  and  of  the 
other  Northern  cities,  excited  by  the  constant  reports  in  the 
papers  of  magnificent  reviews  and  unsurpassed  military  spec- 
24 


•vri 


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556  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

is  thought  to  be  far  finer  than  those  which  have  just  dazzled 
the  eyes  of  the  fickle  spectators.  Human  nature  is  thus  se 
verely  taxed.  The  Cabinet  of  State  is  like  the  museum  of 
some  cruel  naturalist,  who  seizes  his  specimens  whilst  they 
are  alive,  bottles  them  up,  forbids  them  to  make  as  much  as  a 
contortion,  labelling  them  "My  last  President,"  "My  latest 
Commander-in-chief,"  or  "  My  defeated  General,"  regarding 
the  smallest  signs  of  life  very  much  as  did  the  French  petit 
maitre  who  rebuked  the  contortions  and  screams  of  the  poor 
wretch  who  was  broken  on  the  wheel,  as  contrary  to  blen- 
seance.  I  am  glad  that  Sir  James  Ferguson  and  Mr.  Bourke 
did  not  leave  without  making  a  tour  of  inspection  through  the 
Federal  camp,  which  they  did  to-day. 

October  17 th.  —  Dies  non. 

October  18th.  —  To-day  Lord  Lyons  drove  out  with  Mr. 
Seward  to  inspect  the  Federal  camps,  which  are  now  in  such 
order  as  to  be  worthy  of  a  visit.  It  is  reported  in  all  the  papers 
that  I  am  going  to  England,  but  I  have  not  the  smallest  in 
tention  of  giving  my  enemies  here  such  a  treat  at  present. 
As  Monsieur  de  Beaumont  of  the  French  Legation  said,  "  I 
presume  you  are  going  to  remain  in  Washington  for  the  rest 
of  your  life,  because  I  see  it  stated  in  the  New  York  journals 
that  you  are  leaving  us  in  a  day  or  two." 

October  19th.  —  Lord  Lyons  and  Mr.  Seward  were  driving 
and  dining  together  yesterday  en  ami.  To-day,  Mr.  Seward 
is  engaged  demolishing  Lord  Lyons,  or  at  all  events  the  Brit 
ish  Government,  in  a  despatch,  wherein  he  vindicates  the 
proceedings  of  the  United  States  Government  in  certain  ar 
rests  of  British  subjects  which  had  been  complained  of,  and 
repudiates  the  doctrine  that  the  United  States  Government 
can  be  bound  by  the  opinion  of  the  law  officers  of  the  Crown 
respecting  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  American  Constitution. 
This  is  published  as  a  set-off  to  Mr.  Sevvard's  circular  on  the 
seacoast  defences  which  created  so  much  depression  and  alarm 
in  the  Northern  States,  where  it  was  at  the  time  considered  as 
a  warning  that  a  foreign  war  was  imminent,  and  which  has 
since  been  generally  condemned  as  feeble  and  injudicious. 

October  "20th.  —  I  saw  General  McClellan  to-day,  who  gave 
me  to  understand  that  some  small  movement  might  take  place 
on  the  right.  I  rode  up  to  the  Chain  Bridge  and  across  it  for 
some  miles  into  Virginia,  but  all  was  quiet.  The  sergeant  at 
the  post  on  the  south  side  of  the  bridge  had  some  doubts  of  the 
genuineness  of  my  pass,  or  rather  of  its  bearer. 


THE  OLD  FIFTIETH.  557 

"  I  heard  you  were  gone  back  to  London,  where  I  am  com 
ing  to  see  you  some  fine  day  with  the  boys  here." 

"  No,  sergeant,  I  am  not  gone  yet,  but  when  will  your  visit 
take  place  ?  " 

"  Oh,  as  soon  as  we  have  finished  with  the  gentlemen  across 
there." 

"  Have  you  any  notion  when  that  will  be  ?  " 

"  Just  as  soon  as  they  tell  us  to  go  and  prevent  the  black 
guard  Germans  running  away." 

**  But  the  Germans  did  not  run  away  at  Bull  Run  ?  " 

"  Faith,  because  they  did  not  get  a  chance  —  sure  they  put 
them  in  the  rear,  away  out  of  the  fighting." 

"  And  why  do  you  not  go  on  now  ?  *' 

"  Well,  that's  the  question  we  are  asking  every  day." 

"  And  can  any  one  answer  it  ?  " 

"  Not  one  of  us  can  tell ;  but  my  belief  is  if  we  had  one  of 
the  old  Fiftieth  among  us  at  the  head  of  affairs  we  would  soon 
be  at  them.  I  belonged  to  the  old  regiment  once,  but  I  got 
off  and  took  up  with  shoe-making  again,  and  faith  if  I  sted  in 
it  I  might  have  been  sergeant-major  by  this  time,  only  they 
hated  the  poor  Roman  Catholics." 

"  And  do  you  think,  sergeant,  you  would  get  many  of  your 
countrymen  who  had  served  in  the  old  army  to  fight  the  old 
familiar  red  jackets  ? "  "  Well,  sir,  I  tell  you  I  hope  my 
arm  would  rot  before  I  would  pull  a  trigger  against  the  old 
fiftieth  ;  but  we  would  wear  the  red  jacket  too  —  we  have  as 
good  a  right  to  it  as  the  others,  and  then  it  would  be  man 
against  man,  you  know  ;  but  if  I  saw  any  of  them  cursed 
Germans  interfering,  I'd  soon  let  daylight  into  them."  The 
hazy  dreams  of  this  poor  man's  mind  would  form  an  excellent 
article  for  a  New  York  newspaper,  which  on  matters  relating 
to  England  are  rarely  so  lucid  and  logical.  Next  day  was 
devoted  to  writing  and  heavy  rain,  through  both  of  which, 
notwithstanding,  I  was  assailed  by  many  visitors  and  some 
scurrilous  letters,  and  in  the  evening  there  was  a  Washington 
gathering  of  Englishry,  Irishry,  Scotchry,  Yankees,  and  Ca 
nadians. 

October  22d.  —  Rain  falling  in  torrents.  As  I  write,  in 
come  reports  of  a  battle  last  night,  some  forty  miles  up  the 
river,  which  by  signs  and  tokens  I  am  led  to  believe  was 
unfavorable  to  the  Federals.  They  crossed  the  river  intend 
ing  to  move  upon  Leesburg  —  were  attacked  by  overwhelming 
forces  and  repulsed,  but  maintained  themselves  on  the  right 


558  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

bank  till  General  Banks  reinforced  them  and  enabled  them  to 
hold  their  own.  McClellan  has  gone  or  is  going  at  once  to 
the  scene  of  action.  It  was  three  o'clock  before  I  heard  the 
news,  the  road  and  country  were  alike  unknown,  nor  had  I 
friend  or  acquaintance  in  the  army  of  the  Upper  Potomac. 
My  horse  was  brought  round  however,  and  in  company  with 
Mr.  Anderson,  I  rode  out  of  Washington  along  the  river  till 
the  falling  evening  warned  us  to  retrace  our  steps,  and  we  re 
turned  in  pelting  rain  as  we  set  out,  and  in  pitchy  darkness, 
without  meeting  any  messenger  or  person  with  news  from  the 
battle-field.  Late  at  night  the  White  House  was  placed  in 
deep  grief  by  the  intelligence  that,  in  addition  to  other  losses, 
Brigadier  and  Senator  Baker  of  California  was  killed.  The 
President  was  inconsolable,  and  walked  up  and  down  his  room 
for  hours  lamenting  the  loss  of  his  friend.  Mrs.  Lincoln's 
grief  was  equally  poignant.  Before  bed-time  I  told  the  Ger 
man  landlord  to  tell  my  servant  I  wanted  my  horse  round  at 
seven  o'clock. 

October  23d.  —  Up  at  six,  waiting  for  horse  and  man.  At 
eight  walked  down  to  stables.  No  one  there.  At  nine  became 
very  angry  —  sent  messengers  in  all  directions.  At  ten  was 
nearly  furious,  when,  at  the  last  stroke  of  the  clock,  James, 
with  his  inexpressive  countenance,  perfectly  calm  nevertheless, 
and  betraying  no  symptom  of  solicitude,  appeared  at  the  door 
leading  my  charger.  "  And  may  I  ask  you  where  you  have 
been  till  this  time  ?  "  "  Wasn't  I  dressing  the  horse,  taking 
him  out  to  water,  and  exercising  him."  "  Good  heavens  !  did 
I  not  tell  you  to  be  here  at  seven  o'clock  ?  "  "  No,  sir ;  Carl 
told  me  you  wanted  me  at  ten  o'clock,  and  here  I  am."  "  Carl, 
did  I  not  tell  you  to  ask  James  to  be  round  here  at  seven 
o'clock."  "  Not  seven  clock,  sere,  but  zehn  clock.  I  tell 
him,  you  come  at  zehn  clock."  Thus  at  one  blow  was  I 
stricken  down  by  Gaul  and  Teuton,  each  of  whom  retired 
with  the  air  of  a  man  who  had  baffled  an  intended  indignity ,>, 
and  had  achieved  a  triumph  over  a  wrong-doer. 

The  roads  were  in  a  frightful  state  outside  Washington  — 
literally  nothing  but  canals,  in  which  earth  and  water  were 
mixed  together  for  depths  varying  from  six  inches  to  three 
feet  above  the  surface  ;  but  late  as  it  was  I  pushed  on,  and  had 
got  as  far  as  the  turn  of  the  road  to  Rockville,  near  the  great 
falls,  some  twelve  miles  beyond  Washington,  when  I  met  an 
officer  with  a  couple  of  orderlies,  hurrying  back  from  General 
Banks's  head-quarters,  who  told  me  the  whole  affair  was  over, 


A  PUBLIC  FUXERAL.  559 

and  that  I  could  not  possibly  get  to  the  scene  of  action  on  one 
horse  till  next  morning,  even  supposing  that  I  pressed  on  all 
through  the  night,  the  roads  being  utterly  villanous,  and  the 
country  at  night  as  black  as  ink ;  and  so  I  returned  to  Wash 
ington,  and  was  stopped  by  citizens,  who,  seeing  the  stream 
ing  horse  and  splashed  rider,  imagined  he  was  reeking  from 
the  fray.  "  As  you  were  not  there,"  says  one,  "  I'll  tell  you 
what  I  know  to  be  the  case.  Stone  and  Baker  are  killed  ; 
Banks  and  all  the  other  generals  are  prisoners  ;  the  Rhode 
Island  and  two  other  batteries  are  taken,  and  5000  Yankees 
have  been  sent  to  H —  to  help  old  John  Brown  to  roast  nig 
gers." 

October  2±th.  —  The  heaviest  blow  which  has  yet  been  in 
flicted  on  the  administration  of  justice  in  the  United  States, 
and  that  is  saying  a  good  deal  at  present,  has  been  given  to  it 
in  Washington.  The  judge  of  whom  I  wrote  a  few  days  ago  in 
the  habeas  corpus  case,  has  been  placed  under  military  arrest 
and  surveillance  by  the  Provost-Marshal  of  the  city,  a  very 
fit  man  for  such  work,  one  Colonel  Andrew  Porter.  The 
Provost-Marshal  imprisoned  the  attorney  who  served  the  writ, 
and  then  sent  a  guard  to  Mr.  Merrick's  house,  who  thereupon 
sent  a  minute  to  his  brother  judges  the  day  before  yesterday 
stating  the  circumstances,  in  order  to  show  why  he  did  not  ap 
pear  in  his  place  on  the  bench.  The  Chief  Judge,  Dunlop,  and 
Judge  Morsell  thereupon  issued  their  writ  to  Andrew  Porter 
greeting,  to  show  cause  why  an  attachment  for  contempt  should 
not  be  issued  against  him  for  his  treatment  of  Judge  Merrick. 
As  the  sharp  tongues  of  women  are  very  troublesome,  the 
United  States  officers  have  quite  little  harems  of  captives,  and 
Mrs.  Merrick  has  just  been  added  to  the  number.  She  is  a 
Wickliffe  of  Kentucky,  and  has  a  right  to  martyrdom.  The 
inconsistencies  of  the  Northern  people  multiply  ad  infinitum 
as  they  go  on.  Thus  at  Hatteras  they  enter  into  terms  of 
capitulation  with  officers  signing  themselves  of  the  Confederate 
States  Army  and  Confederate  States  Navy;  elsewhere  they 
exchange  prisoners  ;  at  New  York  they  are  going  through  the 
farce  of  trying  the  crew  of  a  C.  S.  privateer,  as  pirates  engaged 
in  robbing  on  the  high  seas,  on  "  the  authority  of  a  pretended 
letter  of  marque  from  one  Jefferson  Davis."  One  Jeff  Davis 
is  certainly  quite  enough  for  them  at  present. 

Colonel  and  Senator  Baker  was  honored  by  a  ceremonial 
which  was  intended  to  be  a  public  funeral,  rather  out  of  com 
pliment  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  feelings,  perhaps,  than  to  any  great 


5  GO 


MY  DLLRY  NORTH  AXD  SOUTH. 


attachment  for  the  man  himself,  who  fell  gallantly  fighting  near 
Leesburg.  There  is  need  for  a  republic  to  contain  some  ele 
ments  of  an  aristocracy  if  it  would  make  that  display  of  pomp 
and  ceremony  which  a  public  funeral  should  haye  to  produce 
effect.  At  all  events  there  should  be  some  principle  of  rever 
ence  in  the  heads  and  hearts  of  the  people,  to  make  up  for 
other  deficiencies  in  it  as  a  show,  or  a  ceremony.  The  pro 
cession  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue  was  a  tawdry,  shabby 
string  of  hack  carriages,  men  in  light  coats  and  white  hats  fol 
lowing  the  hearse,  and  three  regiments  of  foot-soldiers,  of 
which  one  was  simply  an  uncleanly,  unwholesome  looking  rab 
ble.  The  President,  in  his  carriage,  and  many  of  the  minis 
ters  and  senators,  attended  also,  and  passed  through  unsympa 
thetic  lines  of  people  on  the  curbstones,  not  one  of  whom 
raised  his  hat  to  the  bier  as  it  passed,  or  to  the  President,  ex 
cept  a  couple  of  Englishmen  and  myself  who  stood  in  the 
3rowd,  and  that  proceeding  on  our  part  gave  rise  to  a  variety 
>f  remarks  among  the  by-standers.  But  as  the  band  turned 
nto  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  playing  something  like  the  minuet 
ie  la  cour  in  Don  Giovanni,  two  officers  in  uniform  came  rid 
ing  up  in  the  contrary  direction  ;  they  were  smoking  cigars ; 
>ne  of  them  let  his  fall  on  the  ground,  the  other  smoked  lustily 
is  the  hearse  passed,  and  reining  up  his  horse,  continued  to 
3uff  his  weed  under  the  nose  of  President,  ministers,  and  sen- 
itors.  with  the  air  of  a  man  who  was  doing  a  very  soldierly 
jorrect  sort  of  a  thing. 

Whether  the  President  is  angry  as  well  as  grieved  at  the 
oss  of  his  favorite  or  not,  I  cannot  affirm,  but  he  is  assuredly 
loing  that  terrible  thing  which  is  called  putting  his  foot  down 
>n  the  judges ;  and  he  has  instructed  Andrew  Porter  not  to 
nind  the  writ  issued  yesterday,  and  has  further  instructed  the 
United  States  Marshal,  who  has  the  writ  in  his  hands  to  serve 
>n  the  said  Andrew,  to  return  it  to  the  court  with  the  infor- 
nation  that  Abraham  Lincoln  has  suspended  the  writ  of  habeas 
Corpus  in  cases  relating  to  the  military. 

October  '26th.  —  More  reviews.  To-day  rather  a  pretty 
ight  —  twelve  regiments,  sixteen  guns,  and  a  few  squads  of 
nen  with  swords  and  pistols  on  horseback,  called  cavalry, 
lomprising  Fitz-John  Porter's  division.  McClellan  seemed 
o  my  eyes  crestfallen  and  moody  to-day.  Bright  eyes  looked 
>n  him  ;  he  is  getting  up  something  like  a  staff,  among  which 
ire  the  young  French  princes,  under  the  tutelage  of  their  uncle, 
he  Prince  of  Joinville.  Whilst  McClellan  is  reviewing,  our 


STEEET  POLICE.  561 

Romans  in  Washington  are  shivering ;  for  the  blockade  of  the 
Potomac  by  the  Confederate  batteries  stops  the  fuel  boats. 
Little  care  these  enthusiastic  young  American  patriots  in  crin 
oline,  who  have  come  to  see  McClellan  and  the  soldiers,  what 
a  cord  of  wood  costs.  The  lower  orders  are  very  angry 
about  it  however.  The  nuisance  and  disorder  arising  from 
soldiers,  drunk  and  sober,  riding  full  gallop  down  the  streets, 
and  as  fast  as  they  can  round  the  corners,  has  been  stopped, 
by  placing  mounted  sentries  at  the  principal  points  in  all  the 
thoroughfares.  The  **  officers "  were  worse  than  the  men  ; 
the  papers  this  wet-k  contain  the  account  of  two  accidents,  in 
one  of  which  a  colonel,  in  another  a  major,  was  killed  by  falls 
from  horseback,  in  furious  riding  in  the  city. 

Forgetting  all  about  this  fact,  and  spurring  home  pretty  fast 
along  an  unfrequented  road,  leading  from  the  ferry  at  George 
town  into  the  city,  I  was  nearly  spitted  by  a  "  dragoon,"  who 
rode  at  me  from  under  cover  of  a  house,  and  shouted  •*  stop," 
just  as  his  sabre  was  within  a  foot  of  my  head.  Fortunately 
his  horse,  being  aware  that  if  it  ran  against  mine  it  might  be 
injured,  shied,  and  over  went  dragoon,  sabre  and  all,  and  off 
went  his  horse,  but  as  the  trooper  was  able  to  run  after  it,  I 
presume  he  was  not  the  worse  ;  and  I  went  on  my  way  re 
joicing. 

McClellan  has  fallen  very  much  in  my  opinion  since  the 
Leesburg  disaster.  He  went  to  the  spot,  and  with  a  little  — 
nay,  the  least  —  promptitude  and  ability  could  have  turned  the 
check  into  a  successful  advance,  in  the  blaze  of  which  the 
earlier  repylse  would  have  been  forgotten.  It  is  whispered 
that  General  Stone,  who  ordered  the  movement,  is  guilty  of 
treason  —  a  common  crime  of  unlucky  generals  —  at  all  events 
he  is  to  be  displaced,  and  will  be  put  under  surveillance.  The 
orders  he  gave  are  certainly  very  strange. 

The  official  right  to  fib,  I  presume,  is  very  much  the  same 
all  over  the  world,  but  still  there  is  more  dash  about  it  in  the 
States,  I  think,  than  elsewhere.  '*  Blockade  of  the  Potomac  I" 
exclaims  an  official  of  the  Navy  Department.  -  Wliat  are 
you  talking  of  ?  The  Department  has  just  heard  that  a  few 
Confederates  have  been  practising  with  a  few  light  field-pieces 
from  the  banks,  and  has  issued  orders  to  prevent  it  in  future." 

u  Defeat  at  Leesburg  \ "  cries  little  K ,  of  McClellan's 

statf,  ••  nothing  of  the  kind.  We  drove  the  Confederates  at 
all  points,  retained  our  position  on  the  right  bank,  and  only 
left  it  when  we  pleased,  having  whipped  the  enemy  so  severely 


562  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

they  never  showed  since."  "Any  news,  Mr.  Cash,  in  the 
Treasury  to-day  ?  "  "  Nothing,  sir,  except  that  Mr.  Chase  is 
highly  pleased  with  everything  ;  he's  only  afraid  of  having  too 
much  money,  and  being  troubled  with  his  balances."  "  The 
State  Department  all  right,  Mr.  Protocol?"  "My  dear  sir! 
delightful !  with  everybody,  best  terms.  Mr.  Seward  and  the 
Count  are  managing  delightfully  ;  most  friendly  assurances  ; 
Guatemala  particularly ;  yes,  and  France  too.  Yes,  I  may 
say  France  too;  not  the  smallest  difficulty  at  Honduras;  al 
together,  with  the  assurances  of  support  we  are  getting,  the 
Minister  thinks  the  whole  affair  will  be  settled  in  thirty  days  ; 
no  joking,  I  assure  you  ;  thirty  days  this  time  positively.  Say 
for  exactness  on  or  about  December  5th."  The  canvas-backs 
are  coining  in,  and  I  am  off  for  a  day  or  two  to  escape  reviews 
and  abuse,  and  to  see  something  of  the  famous  wild-fowl  shoot 
ing  on  the  Chesapeake. 

October  27th.  —  After  church,  I  took  a  long  walk  round  by 
the  commissariat  wagons,  where  there  is,  I  think,  as  much 
dirt,  bad  language,  cruelty  to  animals,  and  waste  of  public 
money,  as  can  be  conceived.  Let  me  at  once  declare  my 
opinion  that  the  Americans,  generally,  are  exceedingly  kind 
to  their  cattle  ;  but  there  is  a  hybrid  race  of  ruffianly  wagon 
ers  here,  subject  to  no  law  or  discipline,  and  the  barbarous 
treatment  inflicted  on  the  transport  animals  is  too  bad  even 
for  the  most  unruly  of  mules.  I  mentioned  the  circumstance 
to  General  McDowell,  who  told  me  that  by  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  there  was  no  power  to  enlist  a  man  for  commis 
sariat  or  transport  duty.  9 

October  28th.  —  Telegraphed  to  my  friend  at  Baltimore 
that  I  was  ready  for  the  ducks.  The  Legation  going  to  Mr. 
Kortwright's  marriage  at  Philadelphia.  Started  with  Lamy 
at  six  o'clock  for  Baltimore  ;  to  Gilmore  House  ;  thence  to 
club.  Every  person  present  said  that  in  my  letter  on  Mary 
land  I  had  understated  the  question,  as  far  as  Southern  senti 
ments  were  concerned.  In  the  club,  for  example,  there  are 
not  six  Union  men  at  the  outside.  General  Dix  has  fortified 
Federal  Hill  very  efficiently,  and  the  heights  over  Fort  Mc- 
Henry  are  bristling  with  cannons,  and  display  formidable' 
earthworks  ;  it  seems  to  be  admitted  that,  but  for  the  action 
of  the  Washington  Government,  the  Legislature  would  pass 
an  ordinance  of  Secession.  Gilmore  House  —  old-fashioned, 
good  bedrooms.  Scarcely  had  I  arrived  in  the  passage,  than 
a  man  ran  off  with  a  paragraph  to  the  papers  that  Dr.  Russell 


CANVAS-BACK  BUCKS.  5G3 

had  come  for  the  purpose  of  duck-shooting ;  and,  hearing  that 
I  was  going  with  Taylor,  put  in  that  I  was  going  to  Taylor's 
Ducking  Shore.  It  appears  that  there  are  considerable  num 
bers  of  these  duck-clubs  in  the  neighborhood  of  Baltimore. 
The  canvas-back  ducks  have  come  in,  but  they  will  not  be  in 
perfection  until  the  10th  of  November  ;  their  peculiar  flavor 
is  derived  from  a  water-plant  called  wild  celery.  This  lies  at 
the  depth  of  several  feet,  sometimes  nine  or  ten,  and  the  birds 
dive  for  it. 

October  29M.  —  At  ten  started  for  the  shooting  ground, 
Carroll's  Island ;  my  companion,  Mr.  Pennington,  drove  me 
in  a  light  trap,  and  Mr.  Taylor  and  Lamy  came  with  Mr. 
Tucker  Carroll,*  along  with  guns,  &c.  Passed  out  towards 
the  sea,  a  long  height  commanding  a  fine  view  of  the  river ; 
near  this  was  fought  the  battle  with  the  English,  at  which  the 
"  Baltimore  defenders  "  admit  they  ran  away.  Mr.  Penning- 
ton's  father  says  he  can  answer  for  the  speed  of  himself  and 
his  companions,  but  still  the  battle  was  thought  to  be  glorious. 
Along  the  posting  road  to  Philadelphia,  passed  the  Blue  Ball 
Tavern  ;  on  all  sides  except  the  left,  great  wooded  lagoons 
visible,  swarming  with  ducks  ;  boats  are  forbidden  to  fire  upon 
the  birds,  which  are  allured  by  wooden  decoys.  Crossed  the 
Philadelphia  Railway  three  times  ;  land  poor,  covered  with 
undergrowths  and  small  trees,  given  up  to  Dutch  and  Irish 
and  free  niggers.  Reached  the  duck-club-house  in  two  hours 
and  a  half;  substantial  farm-house,  with  out-offices,  on  a  strip 
of  land  surrounded  by  water  ;  Gunpowder  River,  Saltpetre 
River,  facing  Chesapeake  ;  on  either  side  lakes  and  tidal 
water ;  the  owner,  Slater,  an  Irishman,  reputed  very  rich, 
selfmade.  Dinner  at  one  o'clock  ;  any  number  of  canvas- 
back  ducks,  plentiful  joints  ;  drink  whiskey ;  company,  Swan, 
Howard,  Duval,  Morris,  and  others,  also  extraordinary  speci 
men  named  Smith,  believed  never  to  wash  except  in  rain  or 
by  accidental  sousing  in  the  river.  Went  out  for  afternoon 
shooting ;  birds  wide  and  high  ;  killed  seventeen  ;  back  to 
supper  at  dusk.  McDonald  and  a  guitar  came  over  ;  had  a 
negro  dance  ;  and  so  to  bed  about  twelve.  Lamy  got  single 
bed  ;  I  turned  in  with  Taylor,  as  single  beds  are  not  permitted 
when  the  house  is  full. 

October  30th.  —  A  light,  a  grim  man,  and  a  voice  in  the 
room  at  four,  A.  M.,  awaken  me  ;  I  am  up  first ;  breakfast;  more 
duck,  eggs,  meat,  mighty  cakes,  milk  ;  to  the  gun-house,  already 
*  Since  killed  in  action,  fighting  for  the  South  at  Antictam. 


5G4  MY  DIARY   NORTH  AND   SOUTH. 

hung  with  ducks,  and  then  tramp  to  the  "  blinds  "  with  Smith, 
who  talked  of  the  Ingines  and  wild  sports  in  far  Minnesota. 
As  morning  breaks,  very  red- and  lovely,  dark  visions  and  long 
streaky  clouds  appear,  skimming  along  from  bay  or  river.  The 
men  in  the  blinds,  which  are  square  enclosures  of  reeds  about 
4J-  feet  high,  call  out  u  Bay,"  "  River,"  according  to  the  direc 
tion  from  which  the  ducks  are  coming.  Down  we  go  in  blinds ; 
they  come ;  puffs  of  smoke,  a  bang,  a  volley  ;  one  bird  foils 
with  flop  ;  another  by  degrees  drops,  and  at  last  smites  the 
sea  ;  there  are  five  down  ;  in  go  the  dogs.  "  Who  shot  that  ?" 
"  I  did."  "  Who  killed  this  ?  "  «  That's  Tucker's  !  "  "A  good 
shot."  "  I  don't  know  how  I  missed  mine."  Same  thing  again. 
The  ducks  fly  prodigious  heights  —  out  of  all  range  one  would 
think.  It  is  exciting  when  the  cloud  does  rise  at  first.  Day 
voted  very  bad.  Thence  1* move  homeward;  talk  with  Mr. 
Slater  till  the  trap  is  ready  ;  and  at  twelve  or  so,  drive  over 
to  Mr.  McDonald  ;  find  Lamy  and  Swan  there  ;  miserable 
shed  of  two-roomed  shanty  in  a  marsh  ;  rough  deal  presses  ; 
whitewashed  walls ;  fiddler  in  attendance  ;  dinner  of  ducks 
and  steak  ;  whiskey,  and  thence  proceed  to  a  blind  or  marsh, 
amid  wooden  decoys  ;  but  there  is  no  use  ;  no  birds ;  high  tide 
flooding  everything  ;  examined  McDonald's  stud  ;  knocked  to 
pieces  trotting  on  hard  ground.  Rowed  back  to  house  with 
Mr.  Pennington,  and  returned  to  the  mansion  ;  all  the  party 
had  but  poor  sport ;  but  every  one  had  killed  something. 
Drew  lots  for  bed,  and  won  this  time ;  Lamy,  however,  would 
not  sleep  double,  and  reposed  on  a  hard  sofa  in  the  parlor  ;  in 
dications  favorable  for  ducks.  It  was  curious,  in  the  early 
morning,  to  hear  the  incessant  booming  of  duck-guns,  along  all 
the  creeks  and  coves  of  the  indented  bays  and  salt-water 
marshes  ;  and  one  could  tell  when  they  were  fired  at  decoys, 
or  were  directed  against  birds  in  the  air  ;  heard  a  salute  fired 
at  Baltimore  very  distinctly.  Lamy  and  Mr.  McDonald  met 
in  their  voyage  up  the  Nile,  to  kill  ennui  and  spend  money. 

October  31st.  —  No,  no,  Mr.  Smith  ;  it  a'n't  of  no  use.  At 
four,  A.  M.,  we  were  invited,  as  usual,  to  rise,  but  Taylor  and  I 
reasoned  from  under  our  respective  quilts,  that  it  would  be 
quite  as  good  shooting  if  we  got  up  at  six,  and  I  acted  in  ac 
cordance  with  that  view.  Breakfasted  as  the  sun  was  shining 
above  the  tree-tops,  and  to  my  blind  —  found  there  was  no 
shooting  at  all  —  got  one  shot  only,  and  killed  a  splendid  can 
vas-back  —  on  returning  to  home,  found  nearly  all  the  party 
on  the  move — 140  ducks  hanging  round  the  house,  the  re- 


CANVAS-BACKS   AND  RED-HEADS.  565 

ward  of  our  toils,  and  of  these  I  received  egregious  share. 
Drove  back  with  Pennington,  very  sleepy,  followed  by  Mr. 
Taylor  and  Lamy.  I  would  have  stayed  longer  if  sport  were 
better.  Birds  don't  fly  when  the  wind  is  in  certain  points,  but 
lie  out  in  great  "  ricks,"  as  they  are  called,  blackening  the 
waters,  drifting  in  the  wind,  or  with  wings  covering  their 
heads  —  poor  defenceless  things  !  The  red-head  waits  along 
side  the  canvas-back  till  he  comes  up  from  the  depths  with 
mouth  or  bill  full  of  parsley  and  wild  celery,  when  he  makes 
at  him  and  forces  him  to  disgorge.  At  Baltimore  at  1-30  — 
dined  —  Lamy  resolved  to  stay  —  bade  good-by  to  Swan  and 
Morris.  The  man  at  first  would  not  take  my  ducks  and  boots 
to  register  or  check  them  —  twenty-five  cents  did  it.  1  ar 
rived  at  Washington  late,  because  of  detention  of  train  by 
enormous  transport ;  labelled  and  sent  out  game  to  the  houses 
till  James's  fingers  ached  again.  Nothing  doing,  except  that 
General  Scott  has  at  last  sent  in  resignation.  McClellan  is 
now  indeed  master  of  the  situation.  And  so  to  bed,  rather 
tired. 


CHAPTER  LVIIL 


«*».  -  Mr*  JL  Link  -  U«oJbiri  K 
FnMr—Bdl  . 


,/Vp- 


WASHINGTON   GOSSIP. 

lar  is  loyal  as  steel  to  her  family  and  to  Tmroln  the  F 
bu^he  is  iCJCitsssible  to  the  influence  of  flattery,  and  has 
mittl  her  society  to  be  infested  by  men  who  would  IK 
reeved  in  any  respectable  private  boose  in  New  1 
Th  jt-u;  It-man  who  turni»he»  fashionable  para.:  .  :.-  :  : 
Wutin^ton  paper  has  tome  charming  little  piece?  of  g 
a :  •"  ~  tbe  tir>t  Lady  in  the  Land  "  this  week  ;  he  is  di 
lesihe  >ame  who,  some  weeks  back,  chronicled  tbe  deiai 
a  rii  on  tbe  pigs  in  tbe  streets  by  tbe  police,  and  wbo 
ciu-il  thus:  -  We  cannot  but  congratulate  Officer  Smit 
tbe  ry  gentlemanly  manner  in  which  he  pel  fanned  few 
agi  -able  but  arduous  duties ;  nor  did  it  escape  our  ix 
:h;: i  )fficer  Washington  Jones  was  likewise  active  and  < 
get  in  the  discharge  of  his  functions." 

"ie  ladies  in  Washington  delight  to  hear  or  to  u 
smi  scandals  connected  with  the  White  Home :  thos 
rep'ted  that  the  Scotch  gardener  left  by  Mr.  Buchanan 
bet  made  a  lieutenant  in  the  United  States  Array,  aw 
bet  specially  detached  to  do  duty  at  the  White  Hou>e,  w 
be  iiierinteiids  the  cooking.  Another  per?oa  connected 
the  -ubh>hment  was  made  rttaiminsMmrr  of  Public  B 
ing  but  was  dismissed  because  he  would  not  put  dowi 
expire  of  a  certain  state  dinner  to  the  public  account 
cua."-  it  under  the  bead  of  ~  Improvement  to  the  Grou 
Bucnany  more  better  tales  than  these  go  round,  and  it  i 
sun-ing  if  a  woman  U  now  and  then  pat  under  dose  ai 
or  sit  otf  to  Fort  Mcllenry  for  too  moch  esprit  and  ii 

tJFt'JSS. 

Member  4/i.  —  General    Fremont   will   certainly   U 
calh.     There  is  not  the  smallest  incident  to  note. 

J* -ember  5th,  —  Small  banquets,  Terr  simple  and  I 
ablvociai,  are  tbe  order  of  the  day  as  winter  closes  ar 
us  ;  ie  country  has  become  too  deep  in  mud  tor  pieasasi 
cursus,  and  at  times  the  weather  is  raw  and  cold.  Ge 
McL'WelL  who  dined  with  us  to-day,  maintains  there  w 
no  dieulty  in  advancing  during  bad  weather,  because 
::.•  .  re  <o  expert  in  felling  trees,  they  can  make  con] 
rua<  wherever  they  like.  I  own  tbe  arguments  surp 
tut  id  not  convince  me,  and  I  think  the  General  will 
out  s  mistake  when  the  time  coines.  Mr.  Everett,  wh 
had  v pected.  was  summoned  away  by  the  unexpected 
iijw  of  his  son's  death,  so  1  misled  the  opportunity  of 
irig  ie  whom  I  much  desired  to  have  met,  as  the  j 


568  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Apostle  of  Washington  worship,  in  addition  to  his  claims  to 
higher  distinction.  He  has  admitted  that  the  only  bond  which 
can  hold  the  Union  together  is  the  common  belief  in  the 
grealness  of  the  departed  general. 

November  Glh.  —  Instead  of  Mr.  Everett  and  Mr.  Johnson, 
Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  and  Bishop  Hughes  will  pay  a  visit  to 
Europe  in  the  Federal  interests.  Notwithstanding  the  adula 
tion  of  everything  French,  from  the  Emperor  down  to  a 
Zouave's  gaiter,  in  the  New  York  press,  there  is  an  uneasy 
feeling  respecting  the  intentions  of  France,  founded  on  the 
notion  that  the  Emperor  is  not  very  friendly  to  the  Federalists, 
and  would  be  little  disposed  to  expose  his  subjects  to  privation 
and  suffering  from  the  scarcity  of  cotton  and  tobacco  if,  by  in 
tervention,  he  could  avert  such  misfortunes.  The  inactivity 
of  McClellan,  which  is  not  understood  by  the  people,  has 
created  an  under-current  of  unpopularity,  to  which  his  enemies 
are  giving  every  possible  strength,  and  some  people  are  begin 
ning  to  think  the  youthful  Napoleon  is  only  a  Brummagem 
Bonaparte. 

November  7th.  —  After  such  bad  weather,  the  Indian  sum 
mer,  Fete  de  St.  Martin,  is  coming  gradually,  lighting  up  the 
ruins  of  the  autumn's  foliage  still  clinging  to  the  trees,  giving 
us  pure,  bright,  warm  days,  and  sunsets  of  extraordinary  loveli 
ness.  Drove  out  to  Bladerisburgh  with  Captain  Haworth,  and 
discovered  that  my  wagon  was  intended  to  go  on  to  Richmond 
and  never  to  turn  back  or  round,  for  no  roads  in  this  part  of 
the  country  are  wide  enough  for  the  purpose.  Dined  at  the 
Legation,  and  in  the  evening  went  to  a  grand  ball,  given  by 
the  Sixth  United  States  Cavalry  in  the  Poor  House  near  their 
camp,  about  two  miles  outside  the  city. 

The  ball  took  place  in  a  series  of  small  whitewashed  rooms 
off  long  passages  and  corridors ;  many  supper  tables  were 
spread  ;  whiskey,  champagne,  hot  terrapin  soup,  and  many  luxu 
ries  graced  the  board,  and  although  but  two  or  three  couple 
could  dance  in  each  room  at  a  time,  by  judicious  arrangement 
of  the  music  several  rooms  were  served  at  once.  The  Duke 
of  Chartres,  in  the  uniform  of  a  United  States  Captain  of 
Staff,  was  among  the  guests,  and  had  to  share  the  ordeal  to 
which  strangers  were  exposed  by  the  hospitable  entertainers, 
of  drinking  with  them  all.  Some  called  him  "  Chatters  "  — 
others,  "Captain  Chatters;"  but  these  were  of  the  outside  pol- 
loi,  who  cannot  be  kept  out  on  such  occasions,  and  who  shake 
hands  and  are  familiar  with  everybody. 


CAVALRY  BALL.  5G9 

The  Duke  took  it  all  exceedingly  well,  and  laughed  with 
the  loudest  in  the  company.  Altogether  the  ball  was  a  great 
success  —  somewhat  marred  indeed  in  my  own  case  by  the 
bad  taste  of  one  of  the  officers  of  the  regiment  which  had 
invited  me,  in  adopting  an  offensive  manner  when  about  to  be 
introduced  to  me  by  one  of  his  brother  officers.  Colonel 
Emory,  the  officer  in  command  of  the  regiment,  interfered, 

and,  finding  that  Captain  A was  not  sober,  ordered  him 

to  retire.  Another  small  contretemps  was  caused  by  the  mas 
ter  of  the  Work  House,  who  had  been  indulging  at  least  as 
freely  as  the  captain,  and  at  last  began  to  fancy  that  the  pau 
pers  had  broken  loose  and  were  dancing  about  after  hours  be 
low  stairs.  In  vain  he  was  led  away  and  incarcerated  in  one 
room  after  another  ;  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  architectu 
ral  difficulties  of  the  building  enabled  him  to  set  all  precau 
tions  at  defiance,  and  he  might  be  seen  at  intervals  flying  along 
the  passages  towards  the  music,  pursued  by  the  officers,  until 
he  was  finally  secured  in  a  dungeon  without  a  window,  and 
with  a  bolted  and  locked  door  between  him  and  the  ball 
rooms. 

November  8th.  —  Colonel  Emory  made  us  laugh  this  morn 
ing  by  an  account  of  our  Amphitryon  of  the  night  before,  who 
came  to  him  with  a  very  red  eye  and  curious  expression  of 
face  to  congratulate  the  regiment  on  the  success  of  the  ball. 
"  The  most  beautiful  thing  of  all  was,"  said  he,  "  Colonel,  I 
did  not  see  one  gentleman  or  lady  who  had  taken  too  much 
liquor  ;  there  was  not  a  drunken  man  in  the  whole  company." 
I  consulted  my  friends  at  the  Legation  with  respect  to  our  in 
ebriated  officer,  on  whose  behalf  Colonel  Emory  tendered  his 
own  apologies ;  but  they  were  of  opinion  I  had  done  all  that 
was  right  and  becoming  in  the  matter,  and  that  I  must  take  no 
more  notice  of  it. 

November  9th.  —  Colonel  Wilmot,  R.  A.,  who  has  come  down 
from  Canada  to  see  the  army,  spent  the  day  with  Captain 
Dahlgren  at  the  Navy  Yard,  and  returned  with  impressions 
favorable  to  the  system.  He  agrees  with  Dahlgren,  who  is 
dead  against  breach-loading,  but  admits  Armstrong  has  done 
the  most  that  can  be  effected  with  the  system.  Colonel  Wil 
mot  avers  the  English  press  are  responsible  for  the  Armstrong 
guns.  He  has  been  much  struck  by  the  excellence  of  th« 
great  iron-works  he  has  visited  in  the  States,  particularly  that 
of  Mr.  Sellers,  in  Philadelphia. 

November  IQth. — •  Visiting  Mr.  Mure  the  other  day,  who 


570  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

was  still  an  invalid  at  "Washington,  I  met  a  gentleman  named 
Maury,  who  had  come  to  Washington  to  see  after  a  portman 
teau  which  had  been  taken  from  him  on  the  Canadian  frontier 
by  the  police.  He  was  told  to  go  to  the  State  Department  and 
claim  his  property,  and  on  arriving  there  was  arrested  and  con 
fined  with  a  number  of  prisoners,  my  horse-dealing  friend, 
Sammy  Wroe,  among  them.  We  walked  down  to  inquire 
how  he  was  ;  the  soldier  who  was  on  duty  gave  a  flourishing 
account  of  him  —  he  had  plenty  of  whiskey  and  food,  "and," 
said  the  man,  "  I  quite  feel  for  Maury,  because  he  does  busi 
ness  in  my  State."  These  State  influences  must  be  overcome, 
or  no  Union  will  ever  hold  together. 

Sir  James  Ferguson  and  Mr.  Bourke  were  rather  shocked 
when  Mr.  Seward  opened  the  letters  from  persons  in  the  South 
to  friends  in  Europe,  of  which  they  had  taken  charge,  and  cut 
some  passages  out  with  a  scissors  ;  but  a  Minister  who  com 
bines  the  functions  of  Chief-of-Police  with  those  of  Secretary 
of  State  must  do  such  things  now  and  then. 

November  \\ih.  —  The  United  States  have  now,  according 
to  the  returns,  600,000  infantry,  600  pieces  of  artillery,  61,000 
cavalry  in  the  field,  and  yet  they  are  not  only  unable  to  crush 
the  Confederates,  but  they  cannot  conquer  the  Secession  ladies 
in  their  capital.  The  Southern  people  here  trust  in  a  break 
down  in  the  North  before  the  screw  can  be  turned  to  the  ut 
most  ;  and  assert  that  the  South  does  not  want  corn,  wheat, 
leather,  or  food.  Georgia  makes  cloth  enough  for  all  —  the 
only  deficiency  will  be  in  metal  and  materiel  of  war.  When 
the  North  comes  to  discuss  the  question  whether  the  war  is  to 
be  against  slavery  or  for  the  Union  leaving  slavery  to  take 
care  of  itself,  they  think  a  split  will  be  inevitable.  Then  the 
pressure  of  taxes  will  force  on  a  solution,  for  the  State  taxes 
already  amount  to  two  to  three  per  cent.,  and  the  people  will 
not  bear  the  addition.  The  North  has  set  out  with  the  prin 
ciple  of  paying  for  everything,  the  South  with  the  principle 
of  paying  for  nothing  ;  but  this  will  be  reversed  in  time.  All 
the  diplomatists,  with  one  exception,  are  of  opinion  the  Union 
is  broken  for  ever,  and  the  independence  of  the  South  virtu 
ally  established. 

November  12th.  —  An  irruption  of  dirty  little  boys  in  the 
streets  shouting  out,  "  Glorious  Union  victory  !  Charleston 
taken  !  "  The  story  is  that  Burnside  has  landed  and  reduced 
the  forts  defending  Port  Royal.  I  met  Mr.  Fox,  Assistant 
Secretary  to  the  Navy,  and  Mr.  Hay,  Secretary  to  Mr.  Lin- 


NEWS   OF  MR.  CHASE.  571 

coin,  in  the  Avenue.  The  former  showed  me  Burnside's  de 
spatches  from  Beaufort,  announcing  reduction  of  the  Confeder 
ate  batteries  by  the  ships  and  the  establishment  of  the  Federals 
on  the  skirts  of  Port  Royal.  Dined  at  Lord  Lyons',  where 
were  Mr.  Chase,  Major  Palmer,  U.  S.  E.,  and  his  wife,  Colonel 
and  Mrs.  Emory,  Professor  Henry  and  his  daughter,  Mr.  Ken 
nedy  and  his  daughter,  Colonel  Wilmot  and  the  Englishry  of 
Washington.  I  had  a  long  conversation  with  Mr.  Chase,  who 
is  still  sanguine  that  the  war  must  speedily  terminate.  The 
success  at  Beaufort  has  made  him  radiant,  and  he  told  me  that 
the  Federal  General  Nelson  *  —  who  is  no  other  than  the 
enormous  blustering,  boasting  lieutenant  in  the  navy  whom  I  met 
at  Washington  on  my  first  arrival — has  gained  an  immense 
victory  in  Kentucky,  killing  and  capturing  a  whole  army  and 
its  generals. 

A  strong  Government  will  be  the  end  of  the  struggle,  but 
before  they  come  to  it  there  must  be  a  complete  change  of  ad 
ministration  and  internal  economy.  Indeed,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  candidly  admitted  that  the  expenses  of  the  war 
were  enormous,  and  could  not  go  on  at  the  present  rate  very 
long.  The  men  are  paid  too  highly ;  every  one  is  paid  too 
much.  The  scale  is  adapted  to  a  small  army  not  very  popu 
lar,  in  a  country  where  labor  is  very  well  paid,  and  competition 
is  necessary  to  obtain  recruits  at  all.  He  has  never  disguised 
his  belief  the  South  might  have  been  left  to  go  at  first,  with  a 
certainty  of  their  return  to  the  Union. 

November  1 3th.  —  Mr.  Charles  Green,  who  was  my  host  at 
Savannah,  and  Mr.  Low,  of  the  same  city,  have  been  arrested 
and  sent  to  Fort  Warren.  Dining  with  Mr.  Seward,  I  heard 
accidentally  that  Mrs.  Low  had  also  been  arrested,  but  was  now 
liberated.  The  sentiment  of  dislike  towards  England  is  in 
creasing,  because  English  subjects  have  assisted  the  South  by 
smuggling  and  running  the  blockade.  "  It  is  strange,"  said 
Mr.  Seward  the  other  day,  "  that  this  great  free  and  civilized 
Union  should  be  supported  by  Germans,  coming  here  semi-civ 
ilized  or  half-savage,  who  plunder  and  destroy  as  if  they  were 
living  in  the  days  of  Agricola,  whilst  the  English  are  the  great 
smugglers  who  support  our  enemies  in  their  rebellion."  I  re 
minded  him  that  the  United  States  flag  had  covered  the  smug 
glers  who  carried  guns  and  materiel  of  war  to  Russia,  although 
they  were  at  peace  with  France  and  England.  "  Yes,  but 

*  Since  shot  dead  by  the  Federal  General  Jeff.  C.  Davis  in  a  quar 
rel  at  Nashville. 


572  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

then,"  said  he,  "  that  was  a  legitimate  contest  between  great 
established  powers,  and  I  admit,  though  I  lament  the  fact,  that 
the  public  sympathy  in  this  country  ran  with  Russia  during 
that  war."  The  British  public  have  a  right  to  their  sympathies 
too,  and  the  Government  can  scarcely  help  it  if  private  individ 
uals  aid  the  South  on  their  own  responsibility.  In  future,  Brit 
ish  subjects  will  be  indicted  instead  of  sent  to  Fort  La  Fayette. 
Mr.  Seward  feels  keenly  the  attacks  in  the  "  New  York  Tri 
bune  "  on  him  for  arbitrary  arrests,  and  representations  have 
bee'n  made  to  Mr.  Greeley  privately  on  the  subject ;  nor  is  he 
indifferent  to  similar  English  criticisms. 

General  McDowell  asserts  there  is  no  nation  in  the  world 
whose  censure  or  praise  the  people  of  the  United  States  care 
about  except  England,  and  with  respect  to  her  there  is  a  mor 
bid  sensitiveness  which  can  neither  be  explained  nor  justified. 

It  is  admitted,  indeed,  by  Americans  whose  opinions  are 
valuable,  that  the  popular  feeling  was  in  favor  of  Russia 
during  the  Crimean  war.  Mr.  Raymond  attributes  the  cir 
cumstance  to  the  influence  of  the  large  Irish  element ;  but  I 
am  inclined  to  believe  it  is  partly  due  at  least  to  the  feeling 
of  rivalry  and  dislike  to  Great  Britain,  in  which  the  mass  of 
the  American  people  are  trained  by  their  early  education,  and 
also  in  some  measure  to  the  notion  that  Russia  was  unequally 
matched  in  the  contest. 

November  \Uh. —  Rode  to  cavalry  camp,  and  sat  in  front 
of  Colonel  Emory's  tent  with  General  Stoneman,  who  is  chief 
of  the  cavalry,  and  Captain  Pleasanton  ;  heard  interesting 
anecdotes  of  the  wild  life  on  the  frontiers,  and  of  bushranging 
in  California,  of  lassoing  bulls  and  wild  horses  and  buffaloes, 
and  encounters  with  grizzly  bears  —  interrupted  by  a  one- 
armed  man,  who  came  to  the  Colonel  for  "  leave  to  take  away 
George."  He  spoke  of  his  brother  who  had  died  in  camp, 
and  for  whose  body  he  had  come,  metallic  coffin  and  all,  to 
carry  it  back  to  his  parents  in  Pennsylvania. 

I  dined  with  Mr.  Seward  —  Mr.  Raymond,  of  New  York, 
and  two  or  three  gentlemen,  being  the  only  guests.  Mr. 
Lincoln  came  in  whilst  we  were  playing  a  rubber,  and  told 
some  excellent  West-country  stories.  "  Here,  Mr.  President, 
we  have  got  the  two  '  Times  '  —  of  New  York  and  of  Lon 
don  —  if  they  would  only  do  what  is  right  and  what  we  want, 
all  will  go  well."  "  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  if  the  bad 
Times  would  go  where  we  want  them,  good  Times  would  be 
sure  to  follow."  Talking  over  Bull  Run,  Mr.  Seward  re- 


THE  MASON  AND  SLIDELL  AFFAIR.  573 

marked  "  that  civilians  sometimes  displayed  more  courage 
than  soldiers,  but  perhaps  the  courage  was  unprofessional. 
When  we  were  cut  off  from  Baltimore,  and  the  United  States 
troops  at  Annapolis  were  separated  by  a  country  swarming 
with  malecontents,  not  a  soldier  could  be  found  to  undertake 
the  journey  and  communicate  with  them.  At  last  a  civilian  " 
—  (I  think  he  mentioned  the  name  of  Mr.  Cassius  Clay)  — 
"  volunteered  and  executed  the  business.  So,  after  Bull  Run, 
there  was  only  one  officer,  General  Sherman,  who  was  doing 
anything  to  get  the  troops  into  order  when  the  President  and 
myself  drove  over  to  see  what  we  could  do  on  that  terrible 
Tuesday  evening."  Mr.  Teakle  Wallis  and  others,  after  the 
Baltimore  business,  told  him  the  people  would  carry  his  head 
on  their  pikes  ;  and  so  he  went  to  Auburn  to  see  how  matters 
stood,  and  a  few  words  from  his  old  friends  there  made  him 
feel  his  head  was  quite  right  on  his  shoulders. 

November  15th.  —  Horse-dealers  are  the  same  all  the  world 
over.  To-day  comes  one  with  a  beast  for  which  he  asked 
£50.  "  There  was  a  Government  agent  looking  after  this 
horse  for  one  of  them  French  princes,  I  believe,  just  as  I  was 
talking  to  the  Kentuck  chap  that  had  him.  *  John,'  says  he, 
*  that's  the  best-looking  horse  I've  seen  in  Washington  this 
many  a  day.'  '  Yes,'  says  I,  l  and  you  need  not  look  at  him 
any  more.'  '  Why  ? '  says  he.  '  Because,'  says  I,  '  it's  one 
that  I  want  for  Lord  John  Russell,  of  the  London  '•  Times," ' 
says  I,  '  and  if  ever  there  was  a  man  suited  for  a  horse,  or  a 
horse  that  was  suited  for  a  man,  they're  the  pair,  and  I'll  give 
every  cent  I  can  raise  to  buy  my  friend,  Lord  Russell,  that 
horse.'  "  I  could  not  do  less  than  purchase,  at  a  small  reduc 
tion,  a  very  good  animal  thus  recommended. 

November  IQth.  —  A  cold,  raw  day.  As  I  was  writing,  a 
small  friend  of  mine,  who  appears  like  a  stormy  petrel  in 
moments  of  great  storm,  fluttered  into  my  room,  and  having 
chirped  out  something  about  a  "Jolly  row,"  —  "Seizure  of 
Mason  and  Slidell,"  —  "British  flag  insulted,"  and  the  like, 
vanished.  Somewhat  later,  going  down  17th  Street,  I  met 
the  French  Minister,  M.  Mercier,  wrapped  in  his  cloak,  com 
ing  from  the  British  Legation.  "  Vous  avez  entendu  quelque 
chose  de  nouveau  ?  "  "  Mais  non,  excellence."  And  then,  in 
deed,  I  learned  there  was  no  doubt  about  the  fact  that  Captain 
Wilkes,  of  the  U.  S.  steamer  "  San  Jacinto,"  had  forcibly 
boarded  the  "  Trent,"  British  mail  steamer,  off  the  Bahamas, 
and  had  taken  Messrs.  Mason,  Slidell,  Eustis,  and  McCler- 


574  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

nand  from  on  board,  by  armed  force,  in  defiance  of  the  pro 
tests  of  the  captain  and  naval  officer  in  charge  of  the  mails. 
This  was  indeed  grave  intelligence;  and  the  French  Minister 
considered  the  act  a  flagrant  outrage,  which  could  not  for  a 
moment  be  justified. 

I  went  to  the  Legation,  and  found  the  young  diplomatists  in 
the  "  Chancellerie"  as  demure  and  innocent  as  if  nothing  had 
happened,  though  perhaps  they  were  a  trifle  more  lively  than 
usual.  An  hour  later,  and  the  whole  affair  was  published  in 
full  in  the  evening  papers.  Extraordinary  exultation  pre 
vailed  in  the  hotels  and  bar-rooms.  The  Sfate  Department 
has  made  of  course  no  communication  respecting  the  matter. 
All  the  English  are  satisfied  that  Mason  and  his  friends  must 
be  put  on  board  an  English  mail  packet  from  the  "  San  Ja- 
cinto"  under  a  salute. 

An  officer  of  the  United  States  navy  —  whose  name  I  shall 
not  mention  here  —  came  in  to  see  the  buccaneers,  as  the  knot 
of  English  bachelors  of  Washington  are  termed,  and  talk  over 
the  matter.  "  Of  course,"  he  said,  "  we  shall  apologize,  and 
give  up  poor  Wilkes  to  vengeance,  by  dismissing  him ;  but 
under  no  circumstances  shall  we  ever  give  up  Mason  and 
Slidell.  No,  sir  ;  not  a  man  dare  propose  such  a  humiliation 
to  our  flag."  He  says  that  Wilkes  acted  on  his  own  responsi 
bility,  add  that  the  "  San  Jacinto"  was  coming  home  from  the 
African  station  when  she  encountered  the  "  Trent."  Wilkes 
knew  the  rebel  emissaries  were  on  board,  and  thought  he 
would  cut  a  dash  and  get  up  a  little  sensation,  being  a  bold 
and  darin'g  sort  of  a  fellow,  with  a  quarrelsome  disposition  and 
a  great  love  of  notoriety,  but  an  excellent  officer. 

November  Ylih.  —  For  my  sins  I  went  to  see  a  dress  parade 
of  the  6th  Regular  Cavalry  early  this  morning,  and  under 
went  a  small  purgatory  from  the  cold,  on  a  bare  plain,  whilst 
the  men  and  officers,  with  red  cheeks  and  blue  noses,  mounted 
on  horses  with  staring  coats,  marched,  trotted,  and  cantered 
past.  The  papers  contain  joyous  articles  on  the  "Trent" 
affair,  and  some  have  got  up  an  immense  amount  of  learning 
at  a  short  notice ;  but  I  am  glad  to  say  we  had  no  discussion 
in  camp.  There  is  scarcely  more  than  one  opinion  among 
thinking  people  in  Washington  respecting  the  legality  of  the 
act,  and  the  course  Great  Britain  must  pursue.  All  the  For 
eign  Ministers,  without  exception,  have  called  on  Lord  Lyons, 
—  Russia,  France,  Italy,  Prussia,  Denmark.  All  are  of 
accord.  I  am  not  sure  whether  the  important  diplomatist 


CAPTAIN  DALGREN.  575 

who  represents  the  mighty  interests  of  the  Hanse  Towns  has 
not  condescended  to  admit  England  has  right  on  her  side. 

November  1 8th.  —  There  is  a  storm  of  exultation  sweeping 
over  the  land.  Wilkes  is  the  hero  of  the  hour.  I  saw  Mr. 
F.  Seward  at  the  State  Department  at  ten  o'clock ;  but,  as  at 
the  British  Legation  the  orders  are  not  to  speak  of  the  trans 
action,  so  at  the  State  Department  a  judicious  reticence  is 
equally  observed.  The  lawyers  are  busy  furnishing  argu 
ments  to  the  newspapers.  The  officers  who  held  their  tongues 
at  first,  astonished  at  the  audacity  of  the  act,  are  delighted  to 
find  any  arguments  in  its  favor. 

I  called  at  General  McClellan's  new  head-quarters  to  get 
a  pass,  and  on  my  way  met  the  Duke  of  Chartres,  who  shook 
his  young  head  very  gravely,  and  regarded  the  occurrence 
with  sorrow  and  apprehension.  McClellan,  I  understand, 
advised  the  immediate  surrender  of  the  prisoners;  but  the 
authorities,  supported  by  the  sudden  outburst  of  public  ap 
proval,  refused  to  take  that  step.  I  saw  Lord  Lyons,  who 
appeared  very  much  impressed  by  the  magnitude  of  the  crisis. 
Thence  I  visited  the  Navy  Department,  where  Captain  Dahl- 
gren  and  Lieutenant  Wise  discussed  the  affair.  The  former, 
usually  so  calm,  has  too  much  sense  not  to  perceive  the  course 
England  must  take,  and,  as  an  American  officer,  naturally 
feels  regret  at  what  appears  to  be  the  humiliation  of  his  flag ; 
but  he  speaks  with  passion,  and  vows  that  if  England  avails 
herself  of  the  temporary  weakness  of  the  United  States  to 
get  back  the  rebel  commissioners  by  threats  of  force,  every 
American  should  make  his  sons  swear  eternal  hostility  to 
Great  Britain.  Having  done  wrong,  stick  to  it !  Thus  men's 
anger  blinds  them,  and  thus  come  wars. 

It  is  obvious  that  no  Power  could  permit  political  offenders 
sailing  as  passengers  in  a  mail-boat  under  its  flag,  from  one 
neutral  port  to  another,  to  be  taken  by  a  belligerent,  though 
the  recognition  of  such  a  right  would  be,  perhaps,  more  ad 
vantageous  to  England  than  to  any  other  Power.  But,  not 
withstanding  these  discussions,  our  naval  friends  dined  and 
spent  the  evening  with  us,  in  company  with  some  other  officers. 

I  paid  my  respects  to  the  Prince  of  Joinville,  with  whom  I 
had  a  long  and  interesting  conversation,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  gave  me  to  understand  he  thought  the  seizure  an 
untoward  and  unhappy  event,  which  could  not  be  justified  on 
any  grounds  whatever,  and  that  he  had  so  expressed  himself 
in  the  highest  quarters.  There  are,  comparatively,  many 


576  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

English  here  at  present, —  Mr.  Chaplin,  Sir  F.  Johnstone, 
Mr.  Weldon,  Mr.  Browne,  and  others,  —  and  it  may  be  read 
ily  imagined  this  affairs  creates  deep  feeling  and  much  discus 
sion. 

November  \$th.  —  I  rarely  sat  down  to  write  under  a  sense 
of  greater  responsibility,  for  it  is  just  possible  my  letter  may 
contain  the  first  account  of  the  seizure  of  the  Southern  Com 
missioners  which  will  reach  England ;  and,  having  heard  all 
opinions  and  looked  at  authorities,  as  far  as  I  could,  it  appears 
to  me  that  the  conduct  of  the  American  officer,  now  sustained 
by  his  Government,  is  without  excuse.  I  dined  at  Mr.  Cor- 
coran's,  where  the  Ministers  of  Prussia,  Brazil,  and  Chili, 
and  the  Secretary  of  the  French  Legation,  were  present; 
and,  although  we  did  not  talk  politics,  enough  was  said  to 
show  there  was  no  dissent  from  the  opinion  expressed  by  in 
telligent  and  uninterested  foreigners. 

November  20th.  —  To-day  a  grand  review,  the  most  re 
markable  feature  of  which  was  the  able  disposition  made  by 
General  McDowell  to  march  seventy  infantry  regiments,  seven 
teen  batteries,  and  seven  cavalry  regiments,  into  a  very  con 
tracted  space,  from  the  adjoining  camps.  Of  the  display  itself 
I  wrote  a  long  account,  which  is  not  worth  repeating  here. 
Among  the  55,000  men  present  there  were  at  least  20,000 
Germans  and  12,000  Irish. 

November  22nd.  —  All  the  American  papers  have  agreed 
that  the  Trent  business  is  quite  according  to  law,  custom,  and 
international  comity,  and  that  England  can  do  nothing.  They 
cry  out  so  loudly  in  this  one  key  there  is  reason  to  suspect 
they  have  some  inward  doubts.  General  McClellan  invited 
all  the  world,  including  myself,  to  see  a  performance  given  by 
Hermann,  the  conjurer,  at  his  quarters,  which  will  be  aggra 
vating  news  to  the  bloody-minded,  serious  people  in  New  Eng 
land. 

Day  after  day  passes  on,  and  finds  our  Micawbers  in  Wash 
ington  waiting  for  something  to  turn  up.  The  Trent  affair,  hav 
ing  been  proved  to  be  legal  and  right  beyond  yea  or  nay,  has 
dropped  out  of  the  minds  of  all  save  those  who  are  waiting  for 
news  from  England ;  and  on  looking  over  my  diary  I  can  see 
nothing  but  memoranda  relating  to  quiet  rides,  visits  to  camps, 
conversations  with  this  one  or  the  other,  a  fresh  outburst  of 
anonymous  threatening  letters,  as  if  I  had  anything  to  do  with 
the  Trent  affair,  and  notes  of  small  social  reunions  at  our  own 
rooms  and  the  Washington  houses  which  were  open  to  us. 


THE  PRESIDENT   CALCULATES.  577 

November  25th.  —  I  remarked  the  other  evening  that,  with 
all  the  disorder  in  Washington,  there  are  no  thieves.  Next 
night,  as  we  were  sitting  in  our  little  symposium,  a  thirsty  sol 
dier  knocked  at  the  door  fora  glass  of  water.  He  was  brought 
in  and  civilly  treated.  Under  the  date  of  the  27th,  accordingly, 
I  find  it  duly  entered  that  "  the  vagabond  who  came  in  for 
water  must  have  had  a  confederate,  who  got  into  the  hall 
whilst  we  were  attending  to  his  comrade,  for  yesterday  there 
was  a  great  lamentation  over  cloaks  and  great-coats  missing 
from  the  hall,  and  as  the  day  wore  on  the  area  of  plunder  was 
extended.  Carl  discovers  he  has  been  robbed  of  his  best 
clothes,  and  Caroline  has  lost  her  watch  and  many  petti 
coats." 

Thanksgiving  Day  on  the  28th  was  celebrated  by  enormous 
drunkenness  in  the  army.  The  weather  varied  between  days 
of  delicious  summer  —  soft,  bright,  balmy  and  beautiful  be 
yond  expression —  and  days  of  wintry  storm,  with  torrents  of 
rain. 

Some  excitement  was  caused  at  the  end  of  the  month  by  the 
report  I  had  received  information  from  England  that  the  law 
officers  of  the  Crown  had  given  it  as  their  opinion  that  a 
United  States  man-of-war  would  be  justified  by  Lord  Stowell's 
decisions  in  taking  Mason  and  Slidell  even  in  the  British  Chan 
nel,  if  the  Nashville  transferred  them  to  a  British  mail  steamer. 
This  opinion  was  called  for  in  consequence  of  the  Tuscarora  ap 
pearing  in  Southampton  Water;  and,  having*heard  of  it,  I  re 
peated  it  in  strict  confidence  to  someone  else,  till  at  last  Baron 
de  Stoeckl  came  to  ask  rne  if  it  was  true.  Receiving  passen 
gers  from  the  Nashville,  however,  would  have  been  an  act  of 
direct  intercourse  with  an  enemy's  ship.  In  the  case  of  the 
Trent  the  persons  seized  had  come  on  board  as  lawful  passen 
gers  at  a  neutral  port. 

The  tide  of  success  runs  strongly  in  favor  of  the  North  at 
present,  although  they  generally  get  the  worst  of  it  in  the  small 
affairs  in  the  front  of  Washington.  The  entrance  to  Savannah 
has  been  occupied,  and  by  degrees  the  fleets  are  biting  into  the 
Confederate  lines  along  the  coast,  and  establishing  positions 
which  will  afford  bases  of  operations  to  the  Federals  hereafter. 
The  President  and  Cabinet  seem  in  better  spirits,  and  the  for 
mer  indulges  in  quaint  speculations,  which  he  transfers  even 
to  State  papers.  He  calculates,  for  instance,  there  are  human 
beings  now  alive  who  may  ere  they  die  behold  the  United 
States  peopled  by  250  millions  of  souls.  Talking  of  a  high 
25 


578  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

prairie,  in  Illinois,  he  remarked.  "  that  if  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  were  assembled  there,  a  man  standing  on  its  top  would 
see  them  all,  for  that  the  whole  human  race  would  fit  on  a 
space  twelve  miles  square,  which  was  about  the  extent  of  the 
plain." 


CHAPTER  LIX. 

A  Captain  under  arrest  —  Opening  of  Congress  —  Colonel  D'Utassy  — 
An  ex-pugilist  turned  Senator — Mr.  Cameron  —  Ball  in  the  offi 
cers'  huts — Presentation  of  standards  at  Arlington  —  Dinner  at 
Lord  Lyons'  —  Paper  currency  —  A  polyglot  dinner — Visit  to 
Washington's  Tomb  —  Mr.  Chase's  Report  —  Colonel  Seaton  — 
Unanimity  of  the  South  —  The  Potomac  blockade  —  A  Dutch- 
American  Crimean  acquaintance  —  The  American  Lawyers  on 
the  Trent  affair — Mr.  Sunmer  —  McClellan's  Army  —  Impres 
sions  produced  in  America  by  the  English  Press  on  the  affair  of 
the  Trent  —  Mr.  Sumner  on  the  crisis  —  Mutual  feelings  of  the 
two  nations  —  Rumors  of  war  with  Great  Britain. 

December  1st.  —  A  mixed  party  of  American  officers  and 
English  went  to-day  to  the  post  at  Great  Falls,  about  sixteen 
or  seventeen  miles  up  the  Potomac,  and  were  well  repaid  by 
the  charming  scenery,  and  by  a  visit  to  an  American  military 
station  in  a  state  of  nature.  The  captain  in  command  told  us 
over  a  drink  that  he  was  under  arrest  because  he  had  refused 
to  do  duty  as  lieutenant  of  the  guard,  he  being  a  captain. 
"  But  I  have  written  to  McClellan  about  it,"  said  he,  "  and 

I'm  d d  if  I  stay  under  arrest  more  than  three  days  longer." 

He  was  not  aware  that  the  General's  brother,  who  is  a  captain 
on  his  staff,  was  sitting  beside  him  at  the  time.  This  worthy 
centurion  further  informed  us  he  had  shot  a  man  dead  a  short 
time  before  for  disobeying  his  orders.  "  That  he  did,"  said 
his  sympathizing  and  enthusiastic  orderly,  "  and  there's  the 
weapon  that  done  it."  The  captain  was  a  boot  and  shoe 
maker  by  trade,  and  had  travelled  across  the  isthmus  before 
the  railway  was  made  to  get  orders  for  his  boots.  A  hard, 
determined,  fierce  "  sutor,"  as  near  a  savage  as  might  be. 

"  And  what  will  you  do,  captain,"  asked  I,  "  if  they  keep 
you  in  arrest  ?  " 

"  Fight  for  it,  sir.  I'll  go  straight  away  into  Pennsylvania 
with  my  company,  and  we'll  whip  any  two  companies  they  can 
send  to  stop  us." 

Mr.  Sumner  paid  me  a  visit  on  my  return  from  our  excur- 


580  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

sion,  and  seems  to  think  everything  is  in  the  best  possible 
state. 

December  2d.  —  Congress  opened  to-day.  The  Senate  did 
nothing.  In  the  House  of  Representatives  some  Buncombe 
resolutions  were  passed  about  Captain  Wilkes,  who  has  become 
a  hero  —  "  a  great  interpreter  of  international  law,"  and  also 
recommending  that  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell  be  confined  in 
felons'  cells,  in  retaliation  for  Colonel  Corcoran's  treatment  by 
the  Confederates.  M.  Blondel,  the  Belgian  minister,  who  was 
at  the  court  of  Greece  during  the  Russian  war,  told  me  that 
when  the  French  and  English  fleets  lay  in  the  Piraeus,  a 
United  States  vessel,  commanded,  he  thinks,  by  Captain 
Stringham,  publicly  received  M.  Persani,  the  Russian  ambas 
sador,  on  board,  hoisted  and  saluted  the  Russian  flag  in  the 
harbor,  whereupon  the  French  Admiral,  Barbier  de  Tinan, 
proposed  to  the  English  Admiral  to  go  on  board  the  United 
States  vessel  and  seize  the  Ambassador,  which  the  British 
officer  refused  to  do. 

December  3d.  —  Drove  down  to  the  Capitol,  and  was  intro 
duced  to  the  floor  of  the  Senate  by  Senator  Wilson,  and  ar 
rived  just  as  Mr.  Forney  commenced  reading  the  President's 
message,  which  was  listened  to  with  considerable  interest. 
At  dinner,  Colonel  D'Utassy,  of  the  Garibaldi  legion,  who 
gives  a  curious  account  of  his  career.  A  Hungarian  by  birth, 
he  went  over  from  the  Austrian  service,  and  served  under 
Bern ;  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner  at  Temesvar,  and 
escaped  from  Spielberg,  through  the  kindness  of  Count  Ben- 
nigsen,  making  his  way  to  Semlin,  in  the  disguise  of  a  servant, 
where  Mr.  Fonblanque,  the  British  consul,  protected  him. 
Thence  he  went  to  Kossuth  at  Shuinla,  finally  proceeded  to 
Constantinople  where  he  was  engaged  to  instruct  the  Turkish 
cavalry;  turned  up  in  the  Ionian  Islands,  where  he  was  en 
gaged  by  the  late  Sir  H.  Ward,  as  a  sort  of  secretary  arid 
interpreter,  in  which  capacity  he  also  served  Sir  G.  LeMar- 
chant.  In  the  United  States  he  was  earning  his  livelihood  as 
a  fencing,  dancing,  and  language  master ;  and  when  the  war 
broke  out  he  exerted  himself  to  raise  a  regiment,  and  succeded 
in  completing  his  number  in  seventeen  days,  being  all  the  time 
obliged  to  support  himself  by  his  lessons.  I  tell  his  tale  as  he 
told  it  to  me. 

One  of  our  friends,  of  a  sporting  turn,  dropped  in  to-night, 
followed  by  a  gentleman  dressed  in  immaculate  black,  and  of 
staid  deportment,  whose  name  I  did  not  exactly  catch,  but 


THE  PRESS  RULES  AMERICA.  581 

fancied  it  was  that  of  a  senator  of  some  reputation.  As  the 
stranger  sat  next  me,  and  was  rubbing  his  knees  nervously,  I 
thought  I  would  commence  conversation. 

"  It  appears,  sir,  that  affairs  in  the  south-west  are  not  so 
promising.  May  I  ask  you  what  is  your  opinion  of  the  pre 
sent  prospects  of  the  Federals  in  Missouri  ?  " 

I  was  somewhat  disconcerted  by  his  reply,  for  rubbing  his 
knees  harder  than  ever,  and  imprecating  his  organs  of  vision 
in  a  very  sanguinary  manner,  he  said  — 

"  Well,  d if  I  know  what  to  think  of  them.  They're 

a  d rum  lot,  and  they're  going  on  in  a  d ruin  way. 

That's  what  I  think." 

The  supposed  legislator,  in  fact,  was  distinguished  in  an 
other  arena,  and  was  no  other  than  a  celebrated  pugilist,  who 
served  his  apprenticeship  in  the  English  ring,  and  has  since 
graduated  in  honors  in  America. 

I  dined  with  Mr.  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War,  where  I  met 
Mr.  Forney,  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  Mr.  House,  Mr.  Wilke- 
son,  and  others,  and  was  exceedingly  interested  by  the  shrewd 
conversation  and  candid  manner  of  our  host.  He  told  me  he 
once  worked  as  a  printer  in  the  city  of  Washington,  at  ten 
dollars  a  week,  and  twenty  cents  an  hour  for  extra  work  at 
the  cases  on  Sunday.  Since  that  time  he  has  worked  onwards 
and  upwards,  and  amassed  a  large  fortune  by  contracts  for 
railways  and  similar  great  undertakings.  He  says  the  press 
rules  America,  and  that  no  one  can  face  it  and  live;  which  is 
about  the  worst  account  of  the  chances  of  an  honest  longevity  I 
can  well  conceive.  His  memory  is  exact,  and  his  anecdotes, 
albeit  he  has  never  seen  any  but  Americans,  or  stirred  out  of 
the  States,  very  agreeable.  Once  there  lived  at  Washington 
a  publican's  daughter,  named  Mary  O'Neil,  beautiful,  bold,  and 
witty.  She  captivated  a  member  of  congress,  who  failed  to 
make  her  less  than  his  wife  ;  and  by  degrees  Mrs.  Eaton  — 
who  may  now  be  seen  in  the  streets  of  Washington,  an  old 
woman,  still  bright-eyed  and,  alas  !  bright-cheeked,  retaining 
traces  of  her  great  beauty  —  became  a  leading  personage  in 
the  State,  and  ruled  the  imperious,  rugged,  old  Andrew 
Jackson  so  completely,  that  he  broke  up  his  Cabinet  and  dis 
missed  his  ministers  on  her  account.  In  the  days  of  her 
power  she  had  done  some  trifling  service  to  Mr.  Cameron, 
and  he  has  just  repaired  it  by  conferring  some  military  ap 
pointment  on  her  grandchild. 

The  dinner  which  was  preceded  by  deputations,  was  finished 


582  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

by  one  which  came  from  the  Far  West,  and  was  introduced 
by  Mr.  Hannibal  Hamlin,  the  Vice-President ;  Mr.  Owen 
Lovejoy,  Mr.  Bingham,  and  other  ultra- Abolitionist  members 
of  Congress ;  and  then  speeches  were  made,  and  healths  were 
drunk,  and  toasts  were  pledged,  till  it  was  time  for  me  to  drive 
to  a  ball  given  by  the  officers  of  the  5th  United  States 
Cavalry,  which  was  exceedingly  pretty,  and  admirably  ar 
ranged  in  wooden  huts,  specially  erected  and  decorated  for 
the  occasion.  A  huge  bonfire  in  the  centre  of  the  camp,  sur 
rounded  by  soldiers,  by  the  carriage  drivers,  and  by  negro 
servants,  afforded  the  most  striking  play  of  color  and  variety 
of  light  and  shade  I  ever  beheld. 

December  4th.  —  To  Arlington,  where  Senator  Ira  Harris 
presented  flags — that  is,  standards  —  to  a  cavalry  regiment 
called  after  his  name ;  the  President,  Mrs.  Lincoln,  ministers, 
generals,  and  a  large  gathering  present.  Mr.  Harris  made  a 
very  long  and  a  very  fierce  speech  ;  it  could  not  be  said  Ira 
furor  brevis  est ;  and  Colonel  Davis,  in  taking  the  standard, 
was  earnest  and  lengthy  in  reply.  Then  a  barrister  pre 
sented  color  No.  2  in  a  speech  full  of  poetical  quotations, 
to  which  Major  Kilpatrick  made  an  excellent  answer.  Though 
it  was  strange  enough  to  hear  a  political  disquisition  on  the 
causes  of  the  rebellion  from  a  soldier  in  full  uniform,  the  pro 
ceedings  were  highly  theatrical  and  very  effective.  "  Take, 
then,  this  flag,"  &c.  —  "  Defend  it  with  your,"  &c.  —  "  Yes,  sir, 
we  will  guard  this  sacred  emblem  with  — ,"  &c.  The  regi 
ment  then  went  through  some  evolutions,  which  were  brought 
to  an  untimely  end  by  a  feu  du  joie  from  the  infantry  in  the 
rear,  which  instantly  broke  up  the  squadrons,  and  sent  them 
kicking,  plunging,  and  falling  over  the  field,  to  the  great 
amusement  of  the  crowd. 

Dined  with  Lord  Lyons,  where  was  Mr.  Gait.  Financial 
Minister  of  Canada ;  Mr.  Stewart,  who  has  arrived  to  replace 
Mr.  Irvine,  and  others.  In  our  rooms,  a  grand  financial  dis 
cussion  took  place  in  honor  of  Mr.  Gait,  between  Mr.  Butler 
Duncan  and  others,  the  former  maintaining  that  a  general  issue 
of  national  paper  was  inevitable.  A  very  clever  American 
maintained  that  the  North  will  be  split  into  two  great  parties 
by  the  result  of  the  victory  which  they  are  certain  to  gain  over 
the  South  —  that  the  Democrats  will  offer  the  South  conces 
sions  more  liberal  than  they  could  ever  dream  of,  and  that 
both  will  unite  against  the  Abolitionists  and  Black  Repub 
licans. 


VISIT  TO  THE  GARIBALDI  GUARD.  583 

December  6th.  —  Mr.  Riggs  says  the  paper  currency  scheme 
will  produce  money,  and  make  every  man  richer.  He  is  a 
banker,  and  ought  to  know  ;  but  to  my  ignorant  eye  it  seems 
likely  to  prove  most  destructive,  and  I  confess,  that  whatever 
be  the  result  of  this  war,  I  have  uo  desire  for  the  ruin  of  so 
many  happy  communities  as  have  sprung  up  in  the  United 
States.  Had  it  been  possible  for  human  beings  to  employ 
popular  institutions  without  intrigue  and  miserable  self-seeking, 
and  to  be  superior  to  faction  and  party  passion,  the  condition 
of  parts  of  the  United  States  must  cause  regret  that  an  exemp 
tion  from  the  usual  laws  which  regulate  human  nature  was  not 
made  in  America  ;  but  the  strength  of  the  United  States  — 
directed  by  violent  passions,  by  party  interest,  and  by  selfish 
intrigues — was  becoming  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  other 
nations,  and  therefore  there  is  an  utter  want  of  sympathy  with 
them  in  their  time  of  trouble. 

I  dined  with  Mr.  Gait,  at  Willard's,  where  we  had  a  very 
pleasant  party,  in  spite  of  financial  dangers. 

December  1th.  —  A  visit  to  the  Garibaldi  Guard  with  some 
of  the  Englishry,  and  an  excellent  dinner  at  the  mess,  which 
presented  a  curious  scene,  and  was  graced  by  sketches  from  a 
wonderful  polyglot  chaplain.  What  a  company  !  —  the  offi 
cers  present  were  composed  as  follows  :  —  Five  Spaniards, 
six  Poles  and  Hungarians,  two  Frenchmen  —  the  most  sol 
dierly-looking  men  at  table  —  one  American,  four  Italians, 
and  nine  Teutons  of  various  States  in  Germany. 

December  Sth.  —  A  certain  excellent  Colonel  who  com 
mands  a  French  regiment  visited  us  to-day.  When  he  came 
to  Washington,  one  of  the  Foreign  Ministers  who  had  been 
well  acquainted  with  him  said,  "  My  dear  Colonel,  what  a  pity 
we  can  be  no  longer  friends."  "  Why  so,  Baron  ?  "  "  Ah, 
we  can  never  dine  together  again."  "  Why  not  ?  Do  you  for 
bid  me  your  table  ?  "  "  No,  Colonel,  but  how  can  I  invite  a 
man  who  can  command  the  services  of  at  least  200  cooks  in 
his  own  regiment  ?  "  "  Well  then,  Baron,  you  can  come  and 
dine  with  me."  What !  how  do  you  think  I  could  show  my 
self  in  your  camp  —  how  could  I  get  my  hair  dressed  to  sit  at 
the  table  of  a  man  who  commands  300  coiffeurs  ?  I  rode  out 
to  overtake  a  party  who  had  started  in  carriages  for  Mount 
Vernon  to  visit  Washington's  tomb  but  missed  them  in  the 
wonderfully  wooded  country  which  borders  the  Potomac, 
and  returned  alone. 

December  $th.  —  Spent  the  day  over  Mr.  Chase's  report,  a 


584  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

copy  of  which  he  was  good  enough  to  send  me  with  a  kind 
note,  and  went  out  in  the  evening  with  my  head  in  a  state  of 
wild  financial  confusion,  and  a  general  impression  that  the 
financial  system  of  England  is  very  unsound. 

December  10th. —  Paid  a  visit  to  Colonel  Seaton,  of  the 
"  National  Intelligencer,"  a  man  deservedly  respected  and  es 
teemed  for  his  private  character,  which  has  given  its  im 
press  to  the  journal  he  has  so  long  conducted.  The  New 
York  papers  ridicule  the  Washington  organ,  because  it  does 
not  spread  false  reports  daily  in  the  form  of  telegraphic  u  sen 
sation  "  news,  and  indeed  one  may  be  pretty  sure  that  a  fact 
is  a  fact  when  it  is  found  in  the  "  Intelligencer ; "  but  the  man, 
nevertheless,  who  is  content  with  the  information  he  gets  from 
it,  will  have  no  reason  to  regret,  in  the  accuracy  of  his  knowl 
edge  or  the  soundness  of  his  views,  that  he  has  not  gone  to 
its  noisy  and  mendacious  rivals.  In  the  minds  of  all  the 
very  old  men  in  the  States,  there  is  a  feeling  of  great  sadness 
and  despondency  respecting  the  present  troubles,  and  though 
they  cling  to  the  idea  of  a  restoration  of  the  glorious  Union 
of  their  youth,  it  is  hoping  against  hope.  "  Oar  game  is  played 
out.  It  was  the  most  wonderful  and  magnificent  career  of 
success  the  world  ever  saw,  but  rogues  and  gamblers  took  up 
the  cards  at  last ;  they  quarrelled,  and  are  found  out/' 

In  the  evening,  supped  at  Mr.  Forney's,  where  there  was 
a  very  large  gathering  of  gentlemen  connected  with  the  press; 
Mr.  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War  ;  Colonel  Mulligan,  a  tall 
young  man,  with  dark  hair  falling  on  his  shoulder-,  round  a 
Celtic  impulsive  face,  and  a  hazy  enthusiastic-looking  eye ; 
and  other  celebrities.  Terrapin  soup  and  canvas-backs, 
speeches,  orations,  music,  and  song,  carried  the  company  on 
wards  among  the  small  hours. 

December  \\th. —  The  unanimity  of  the  people  in  the  South 
is  forced  on  the  conviction  of  the  statesmen  and  people  of  the 
North,  by  the  very  success  of  their  expeditions  in  Secession. 
They  find  the  planters  at  Beaufort  and  elsewhere  burning 
their  cotton  and  crops,  villages  and  towns  deserted  at  their 
approach,  hatred  in  every  eye,  and  curses  on  women's  tongues. 
They  meet  this  by  a  corresponding  change  in  their  own  pro 
gramme.  The  war  which  was  ma  le  to  develop  and  m  lintain 
Union  sentiment  in  the  S  >uth,  and  to  enable  the  people  to 
rise  against  a  desperate  fautioii  which  had  enthralled  them,  u 
now  to  be  made  a  crusade  against  slaveholders,  and  a  war  of 
subjugation  —  if  need  be,  of  extermination  —  against  the  whole 


BRIGADIER  BOHLEN.  585 

of  the  Southern  States.  The  Democrats  will,  of  course,  resist 
this  barbarous  and  hopeless  policy.  There  is  a  deputation  of 
Irish  Democrats  here  now  to  effect  a  general  exchange  of 
prisoners,  which  is  an  operation  calculated  to  give  a  legiti 
mate  character  to  the  war,  and  is  pro  tanto  a  recognition  of 
the  Confederacy  as  a  belligerent  power. 

December  1 2//j.  —  The  navy  are  writhing  under  the  dis 
grace  of  the  Potomac  blockade,  and  deny  it  exists.  The 
price  of  articles  in  Washington  which  used  to  come  by  the 
river  affords  disagreeable  proof  to  the  contrary.  And  yet 
there  is  not  a  true  Yankee  in  Pennsylvania  Avenue  who  does 
not  believe,  what  he  reads  every  day,  that  his  glorious  navy 
could  sweep  the  fleets  of  France  and  England  off  the  seas  to 
morrow,  though  the  Potomac  be  closed,  and  the  Confederate 
batteries  throw  their  shot  and  shell  into  the  Federal  camps  on 
the  other  side.  I  dined  with  General  Butterfield,  whose  camp 
is  pitched  in  Virginia,  on  a  knoll  and  ridge  from  which  a 
splendid  view  can  be  had  over  the  wooded  vales  and  hills  ex 
tending  from  Alexandria  towards  Manassas,  whitened  with 
Federal  tents  and  huts.  General  Fitz-Jolm  Porter  and 
General  McDowell  were  among  the  officers  present. 

December  \2th.  —  A  big-bearded,  spectacled,  mustached, 
spurred,  and  booted  officer  threw  himself  on  my  bed  this 
morning  ere  I  was  awake.  "  Russell,  my  dear  friend,  here 
you  are  at  last ;  what  ages  have  passed  since  we  met !  "  I 
sat  up  and  gazed  at  my  friend.  "  Bohlen  !  don't  you  remem 
ber  Bohlen,  and  our  rides  in  Turkey,  our  visit  to  Shumla  and 
Pravady,  and  all  the  rest  of  it  ?  "  Of  course  I  did.  I  re 
membered  an  enthusiastic  soldier,  with  a  fine  guttural  voice, 
and  a  splendid  war-saddle  and  saddle-cloth,  and  brass  stirrups 
and  holsters,  worked  with  eagles  all  over,  and  a  uniform  coat 
and  cap  with  more  eagles  flying  amidst  laurel  leaves  and 
U.  S.'s  in  gold,  who  came  out  to  see  the  fighting  in  the  East, 
and  made  up  his  mind  that  there  would  be  none,  when  he 
arrived  at  Varna,  and  so  started  off  incontinent  up  the  Dan 
ube,  and  returned  to  the  Crimea  when  it  was  too  late  ;  and  a 
very  good,  kindly,  warm-hearted  fellow  was  the  Dutch-Ameri 
can,  who  —  once  more  in  his  war  paint,  this  time  acting  Brig 
adier-General  *  —  renewed  the  memories  of  some  pleasant 
days  far  away ;  and  our  talk  was  of  canvasses  and  khans,  and 

*  Since  killed  in  action  in  Pope's  retreat  from  the  north  of  Rich 
mond.  r*i :':'/  C 

25* 


586  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

tchibouques,  and  pashas,  till  his  time  was  up  to  return  to  his 
fighting  Germans  of  Blenker's  division. 

He  was  not  the  good-natured  officer  who  said  the  other  day, 
"  The  next  day  you  come  down,  sir,  if  my  regiment  happens 
to  be  on  picket  duty,  we'll  have  a  little  skirmish  with  the 
enemy,  just  to  show  you  how  our  fellows  are  improved." 
"  Perhaps  you  might  bring  on  a  general  action,  Colonel." 
"  Well,  sir,  we're  not  afraid  of  that,  either  !  Let  'em  come 
on."  It  did  so  happen  that  some  young  friends  of  mine,  of 
H.  M.'s  30th,  who  had  come  down  from  Canada  to  see  the 
army  here,  went  out  a  day  or  two  ago  with  an  officer  on  Gen 
eral  Smith's  staff,  formerly  in  our  army,  who  yet  suffers  from 
a  wound  received  at  the  Alma,  to  have  a  look  at  the  enemy 
with  a  detachment  of  men.  The  enemy  came  to  have  a  look 
at  them,  whereby  it  happened  that  shots  were  exchanged,  and 
the  bold  Britons  had  to  ride  back  as  hard  as  they  could,  for 
their  men  skedaddled,  and  the  Secession  cavalry  slipping  after 
them,  had  a  very  pretty  chase  for  some  miles ;  so  the  30th 
men  saw  more  than  they  bargained  for. 

Dined  at  Baron  Gerolt's,  where  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meet 
ing  Judge  Daly,  who  is  perfectly  satisfied  the  English  lawyers 
have  not  a  leg  to  stand  upon  in  the  Trent  case.  On  the  faith 
of  old  and  very  doubtful,  and  some  purely  supposititious,  cases, 
the  American  lawyers  have  made  up  their  minds  that  the  seiz 
ure  of  the  "  rebel  "  ambassadors  was  perfectly  legitimate  and 
normal.  The  Judge  expressed  his  belief  that  if  there  was  a 
rebellion  in  Ireland,  and  that  Messrs.  Smith  O'Brien  and 
O'Gorman  ran  the  blockade  to  France,  and  were  going  on 
their  passage  from  Havre  to  New  York  in  a  United  States 
steamer,  they  would  be  seized  by  the  first  British  vessel  that 
knew  the  fact.  "  Granted  ;  and  what  would  the  United 
States  do  ?  "  "I  am  afraid  we  should  be  obliged  to  demand 
that  they  be  given  up  ;  and  if  you  were  strong  enough  at  the 
time,  I  dare  say  you  would  fight  sooner  than  do  so."  Mr. 
Sumner,  with  whom  I  had  some  conversation  this  afternoon, 
affects  to  consider  the  question  eminently  suitable  for  refer 
ence  and  arbitration. 

In  spite  of  drills  and  parades,  McClellan  has  not  got  an 
army  yet.  A  good  officer,  who  served  as  brigade-major  in 
our  service,  told  me  the  men  were  little  short  of  mutinous, 
with  all  their  fine  talk,  though  they  could  fight  well.  Some 
times  they  refuse  to  mount  guard,  or  to  go  on  duty  not  to  their 
tastes ;  officers  refuse  to  serve  under  others  to  whom  they  have 


DINNER  AT  MR.   SEWARD'S. 


587 


a  dislike ;  men  offer  similar  personal  objections  to  officers. 
McClellan  is  enforcing  discipline,  and  really  intends  to  execute 
a  most  villanous  deserter  this  time. 

December  I5th.  —  The  first  echo  of  the  San  Jacinto's  guns 
in  England  reverberated  to  the  United  States,  and  produced 
a  profound  sensation.  The  people  had  made  up  their  minds 
John  Bull  would  acquiesce  in  the  seizure,  and  not  say  a  word 
about  it ;  or  they  affected  to  think  so ;  and  the  cry  of  anger 
which  has  resounded  through  the  land,  and  the  unmistakable 
tone  of  the  British  press,  at  once  surprise  and  irritate  and 
disappoint  them.  The  American  journals,  nevertheless,  pre 
tend  to  think  it  is  a  mere  vulgar  excitement,  and  that  the  press 
is  "  only  indulging  in  its  habitual  bluster." 

December  16lk.  —  I  met  Mr.  Seward  at  a  ball  and  cotillon 
party,  given  by  M.  de  Lisboa ;  and  as  he  was  in  very  good 
humor,  and  was  inclined  to  talk,  he  pointed  out  to  the  Prince 
of  Joinville,  and  all  who  were  inclined  to  listen,  and  myself, 
how  terrible  the  effects  of  a  war  would  be  if  Great  Britain 
forced  it  on  the  United  States.  "  We  will  wrap  the  whole 
world  in  flames  !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  No  power  so  remote  that 
she  will  not  feel  the  fire  of  our  battle  and  be  burned  by  our 
conflagation."  It  is  inferred  that  Mr.  Seward  means  to  show 
fight.  One  of  the  guests,  however,  said  to  me,  "  That's  all 
bugaboo  talk.  When  Seward  talks  that  way  he  means  to 
break  down.  He  is  most  dangerous  and  obstinate  when  he 
pretends  to  agree  a  good  deal  with  you."  The  young  French 
Princes,  and  the  young  and  pretty  Brazilian  and  American 
ladies,  danced  and  were  happy,  notwithstanding  the  storms 
without, 

Next  day  I  dined  at  Mr.  Seward's,  as  the  Minister  had 
given  carte  blanche  to  a  very  lively  and  agreeable  lady,  who 
has  to  lament  over  an  absent  husband  in  this  terrible  war,  to 
ask  two  gentlemen  to  dine  with  him,  and  she  had  been  pleased 
to  select  myself  and  M.  de  Geoffroy,  Secretary  of  the  French 
Legation,  as  her  thick  and  her  thin  utnbrce  ;  and  the  company 
went  off  in  the  evening  to  the  White  House,  where  there  was  a 
reception,  whereat  I  imagined  I  might  be  de  trop,  and  so  home. 

Mr.  Seward  was  in  the  best  spirits,  and  told  one  or  two 
rather  long,  but  very  pleasant,  stories.  Now  it  is  evident  he 
must  by  this  time  know  Great  Britain  has  resolved  on  the 
course  to  be  pursued,  and  his  good  humor,  contrasted  with  the 
irritation  he  displayed  in  May  and  June,  is  not  intelligible. 

The  Russian  Minister,  at  whose  house  I  dined  next  day,  is 


588  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

better  able  than  any  man  to  appreciate  the  use  made  of  the 
Czar's  professions  of  regret  for  the  evils  which  distract  the 
States  by  the  Americans ;  but  it  is  the  fashion  to  approve  of 
everything  that  France  does,  and  to  assume  a  violent  affection 
for  Russia.  The  Americans  are  irritated  by  war  preparations 
on  the  part  of  England,  in  case  the  Government  of  Washington 
do  not  accede  to  their  demands ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  much 
annoyed  that  all  European  nations  join  in  an  outcry  against 
the  famous  project  of  destroying  the  Southern  harbors  by  the 
means  of  the  stone  fleet. 

December  20th.  —  I  went  down  to  the  Senate,  as  it  was  ex 
pected  at  the  Legation  and  elsewhere  the  President  would 
send  a  special  message  to  the  Senate  on  the  Trent  affair ;  but 
instead,  there  was  merely  a  long  speech  from  a  senator,  to 
show  the  South  did  not  like  democratic  institutions.  Lord 
Lyons  called  on  Mr.  Seward  yesterday  to  read  Lord  Russell's 
despatch  to  him,  and  to  give  time  for  a  reply ;  but  Mr.  Seward 
was  out,  and  Mr.  Sumner  told  me  the  Minister  was  down  with 
the  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations,  where  there  is  a  serious 
business  in  reference  to  the  State  of  Mexico  and  certain  Euro 
pean  Powers  under  discussion,  when  the  British  Minister  went 
to  the  State  Department. 

Next  day  Lord  Lyons  had  two  interviews  with  Mr.  Seward, 
read  the  despatch,  which  simply  asks  for  surrender  of  Mason 
and  Slidell  and  reparation,  without  any  specific  act  named,  but 
he  received  no  indication  from  Mr.  Seward  of  the  course  he 
would  pursue.  Mr.  Lincoln  has  "  put  down  his  foot "  on  no 
surrender.  "  Sir  !  "  exclaimed  the  President,  to  an  old  Treas 
ury  official  the  other  day,  "  I  would  sooner  die  than  give  them 
up."  "  Mr.  President,"  was  the  reply,  "  your  death  would  be  a 
great  loss,  but  the  destruction  of  the  United  States  would  be  a 
still  more  deplorable  event." 

Mr.  Seward  will,  however,  control  the  situation,  as  the  Cab 
inet  will  very  probably  support  his  views  ;  and  Americans  will 
comfort  themselves,  in  case  the  captives  are  surrendered,  with 
a  promise  of  future  revenge,  and  with  the  reflection  that  they 
have  avoided  a  very  disagreeable  intervention  between  their 
inarch  of  conquest  and  the  Southern  Confederacy.  The  gen 
eral  belief  of  the  diplomatists  is,  that  the  prisoners  will  not  be 
given  up,  and  in  that  case  Lord  Lyons  and  the  Legation  will 
retire  from  Washington  for  the  time,  probably  to  Halifax, 
leaving  Mr.  Monson  to  wind  up  affairs  and  clear  out  the  ar 
chives.  But  it  is  understood  that  there  is  no  ultimatum, 


'  LORD   LYONS   AND  MR.   SEWARD.  589 

and  that  Lord  Lyons  is  not  to  indicate  any  course  of  action, 
should  Mr.  Seward  inform  him  the  United  States  Government 
refuses  to  comply  with  the  demands  of  Great  Britain. 

Any  humiliation  which  may  be  attached  to  concession  will 
be  caused  by  the  language  of  the  Americans  themselves,  who 
have  given  in  their  press,  in  public  meetings,  in  the  Lower 
House,  in  the  Cabinet,  and  in  the  conduct  of  the  President,  a 
complete  ratification  of  the  act  of  Captain  Wilkes,  not  to 
speak  of  the  opinions  of  the  Lawyers,  and  the  speeches  of 
their  orators,  who  declare  "  they  will  face  any  alternative,  but 
that  they  will  never  surrender."  The  friendly  relations  which 
existed  between  ourselves  and  many  excellent  Americans  are 
now  rendered  somewhat  constrained  by  the  prospect  of  a  great 
national  difference. 

December  (Sunday)  22d.  —  Lord  Lyons  saw  Mr.  Seward 
again,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  any  answer  can  be  expected 
before  Wednesday.  All  kinds  of  rumors  circulate  through 
the  city,  and  are  repeated  in  an  authoritative  manner  in  the 
New  York  papers. 

December  23d.  —  There  was  a  tremendous  storm,  which 
drove  over  the  city  and  shook  the  houses  to  the  foundation. 
Constant  interviews  took  place  between  the  President  and 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  and  so  certain  are  the  people  that 
war  is  inevitable,  that  an  officer  connected  with  the  executive 
of  the  Navy  Department  came  in  to  tell  rne  General  Scott 
was  coming  over  from  Europe  to  conduct  the  Canadian  cam 
paign,  as  he  had  thoroughly  studied  the  geography  of  the 
country,  and  that  in  a  very  short  time  he  would  be  in  posses 
sion  of  every  strategetic  position  on  the  frontier,  and  chaw  up 
our  reinforcements.  Late  in  the  evening,  Mr.  Olrnsted  called 
to  say  he  had  been  credibly  informed  Lord  Lyons  had  quar 
relled  violently  with  Mr.  Seward,  had  flown  into  a  great  pas 
sion  with  him,  and  so  departed.  The  idea  of  Lord  Lyons  being 
quarrelsome,  passionate,  or  violent,  was  preposterous  enough  to 
those  who  knew  him  ;  but  the  American  papers,  by  repeated 
statements  of  the  sort,  have  succeeded  in  persuading  their 
public  that  the  British  Minister  is  a  plethoric,  red-faced,  large- 
stomached  man  in  top-boots,  knee-breeches,  yellow  waistcoat, 
blue  cut-away,  brass  buttons,  and  broad-brimmed  hat,  who  is 
continually  walking  to  the  State  Department  in  company  with 
a  large  bulldog,  hurling  defiance  at  Mr.  Seward  at  one  mo 
ment,  and  the  next  rushing  home  to  receive  despatches  from 
Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  or  to  give  secret  instructions  to  the  Brit- 


590  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

ish  Consuls  to  run  cargoes  of  quinine  and  gunpowder  through 
the  Federal  blockade.  I  was  enabled  to  assure  Mr.  Olmsted 
that  there  was  not  the  smallest  foundation  for  the  story  ;  but 
he  seemed  impressed  with  a  sense  of  some  great  calamity, 
and  told  me  there  was  a  general  belief  that  England  only 
wanted  a  pretext  for  a  quarrel  with  the  United  States  ;  nor 
could  I  comfort  him  by  the  assurance  that  there  were  good 
reasons  for  thinking  General  Scott  would  very  soon  annex 
Canada,  in  case  of  war. 


CHAPTER   LX. 

News  of  the  death  of  the  Prince  Consort  —  Mr.  Sumner  and  the  Trent 
affair  —  Despatch  to  Lord  llussell  —  The  Southern  Commission 
ers  given  up  —  Effects  on  the  friends  of  the  South —  My  own  un 
popularity  at  New  York  —  Attack  of  fever  —  My  tour  in  Canada 
—  My  return  to  New  York  in  February  —  Successes  of  the  West 
ern  States  —  Mr.  Stanton  succeeds  Mr.  Cameron  as  Secretary  of 
War — Reverse  and  retreat  of  McCiellan  —  My  free  pass  —  The 
Merrimac  and  Monitor —  My  arrangement  to  accompany  McClel- 
lan's  head-quarters  —  Mr.  Stanton  refuses  his  sanction  —  National 
vanity  wounded  by  my  truthfulness  —  My  retirement  and  return 
to  Europe. 

December  24^.  —  This  evening  came  in  a  telegram  from 
Europe  with  news  which  cast  the  deepest  gloom  over  all  our 
little  English  circle.  Prince  Albert  dead !  At  first  no  one 
believed  it ;  then  it  was  remembered  that  private  letters  by 
the  last  mail  had  spoken  despondingly  of  his  state  of  health, 
and  that  the  "little  cold"  of  which  we  had  heard  was  de 
scribed  in  graver  terms.  Prince  Albert  dead  !  "  Oh,  it  may 
be  Prince  Alfred,"  said  some ;  and  sad  as  it  would  be  for  the 
Queen  and  the  public  to  lose  the  Sailor  Prince,  the  loss  could 
not  be  so  great  as  that  which  we  all  felt  to  be  next  to  the 
greatest.  The  preparations  which  we  had  made  for  a  little 
festivity  to  welcome  in  Christmas  morning  were  chilled  by  the 
news,  and  the  eve  wa?  not  of  the  joyous  character  which 
Englishmen  delight  to  give  it,  for  the  sorrow  which  fell  on  all 
hearts  in  England  had  spanned  the  Atlantic,  and  bade  us 
mourn  in  common  with  the  country  at  home. 

December  25th.  —  Lord  Lyons,  who  had  invited  the  English 
in  Washington  to  dinner,  gave  a  small  quiet  entertainment, 
from  which  he  retired  early. 

December  26th.  —  No  answer  yet.  There  can  be  but  one. 
Press,  people,  soldiers,  sailors,  ministers,  senators,  congress 
men,  people  in  the  street,  the  voices  of  the  bar-room  —  all  are 
agreed.  "•  Give  them  up  ?  Never  !  We.'ll  die  first !  "  Sen 
ator  Sumner,  M.  De  Beaumont,  M.  De  Geoffroy,  of  the 
French  Legation,  dined  with  me,  in  company  with  General 


592  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

Van  Vliet,  Mr.  Anderson,  and  Mr.  Lamy,  &c. ;  and  in  the 
evening  Major  Anson,  M.  P.,  Mr.  Johnson,  Captain  Irwin, 
U.  S.  A.,  Lt.  Wise,  U.  S.  N.,  joined  our  party,  and  after  much 
evasion  of  the  subject,  the  English  despatch  and  Mr.  Seward's 
decision  turned  up  and  caused  some  discussion.  Mr.  Sumner, 
who  is  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  in 
the  Senate,  and  in  that  capacity  is  in  intimate  rapport  with 
the  President,  either  is,  or  affects  to  be,  incredulous  respecting 
the  nature  of  Lord  Russell's  despatch  this  evening,  and  argues 
that,  at  the  very  utmost,  the  Trent  affair  can  only  be  a  matter 
for  mediation,  and  not  for  any  peremptory  demand,  as  the  law 
of  nations  has  no  exact  precedent  to  bear  upon  the  case,  and 
that  there  are  so  many  instances  in  which  Sir  W.  Scott's 
(Lord  Stowell's)  decisions  in  principle  appear  to  justify  Cap 
tain  Wilkes.  All  along  he  has  held  this  language,  and  has 
maintained  that  at  the  very  worst  there  is  plenty  of  time  for 
protocols,  despatches,  and  references,  and  more  than  once  he 
has  said  to  me,  "  I  hope  you  will  keep  the  peace ;  help  us  to 
do  so,"  —  the  peace  having  been  already  broken  by  Captain 
Wilkes  and  the  Government. 

December  27th.  —  This  morning  Mr.  Sevvard  sent  in  his  re 
ply  to  Lord  Russell's  despatch  —  "  grandis  et  verbosa  epistola." 
The  result  destroys  my  prophecies,  for,  after  all,  the  Southern 
Commissioners  or  Ambassadors  are  to  be  given  up.  Yester 
day,  indeed,  in  an  under-current  of  whispers  among  the  de 
sponding  friends  of  the  South,  there  went  a  rumor  that  the 
Government  had  resolved  to  yield.  What  a  collapse  !  What 
a  bitter  mortification  !  I  had  scarcely  finished  the  perusal  of 
an  article  in  a  Washington  paper,  —  which,  let  it  be  understood, 
is  an  organ  of  Mr.  Lincoln, —  stating  that  "Mason  and  Sli- 
dell  would  not  be  surrendered,  and  assuring  the  people  they 
need  entertain  no  apprehension  of  such  a  dishonorable  con 
cession,"  when  I  learned  beyond  all  possibility  of  doubt,  that 
Mr.  Seward  had  handed  in  his  despatch,  placing  the  Commis 
sioners  at  the  disposal  of  the  British  Minister.  A  copy  of  the 
despatch  will  be  published  in  the  "  National  Intelligencer  "  to 
morrow  morning  at  an  early  hour,  in  time  to  go  to  Europe  by 
the  steamer  which  leaves  New  York. 

After  dinner,  those  who  were  in  the  secret  were  amused  by 
hearing  the  arguments  which  were  started  between  one  or 
two  Americans  and  some  English  in  the  company,  in  conse 
quence  of  a  positive  statement  from  a  gentleman  who  carne 
in,  that  Mason  and  Slidell  had  been  surrendered.  I  have  re- 


SURRENDER  OF  MASON  AND  SLIDELL.  593 

solved  to  go  to  Boston,  being  satisfied  that  a  great  popular 
excitement  and  uprising  will,  in  all  probability,  take  place  on 
the  discharge  of  the  Commissioners  from  Fort  Warren. 
What  will  rny  friend,  the  general,  say,  who  told  me  yesterday 
"  he  would  snap  his  sword,  and  throw  the  pieces  into  the 
White  House,  if  they  were  given  up?" 

December  2&th.  —  The  "  National  Intelligencer "  of  this 
morning  contains  the  despatches  of  Lord  Russell,  M.  Thouvenel, 
and  Mr.  Seward.  The  bubble  has  burst.  The  rage  of  the 
friends  of  compromise,  and  of  the  South,  who  saw  in  a  war  with 
Great  Britain  the  complete  success  of  the  Confederacy,  is  deep 
and  burning,  if  not  loud;  but  they  all  say  they  never  expected 
anything  better  from  the  cowardly  and  braggart  statesmen  who 
now  rule  in  Washington. 

Lord  Lyons  has  evinced  the  most  moderate  and  conciliatory 
spirit,  and  has  done  everything  in  his  power  to  break  Mr. 
Seward's  fall  on  the  softest  of  eider  down.  Some  time  ago  we 
were  all  prepared  to  hear  nothing  less  would  be  accepted  than 
Captain  Wilkes  taking  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell  on  board  the 
San  Jacinto,  and  transferring  them  to  the  Trent,  under  a  sa 
lute  to  the  flag,  near  the  scene  of  the  outrage  ;  at  all  events, 
it  was  expected  that  a  British  man-of-war  would  have  steamed 
into  Boston,  and  received  the  prisoners  under  a  salute  from 
Fort  Wan-en  ;  but  Mr.  Seward,  apprehensive  that  some  out 
rage  would  be  offered  by  the  populace  to  the  prisoners  and  the 
British  Flag,  has  asked  Lord  Lyons  that  the  Southern  Com 
missioners  may  be  placed,  as  it  were,  surreptitiously,  in  a 
United  States  boat,  and  carried  to  a  small  seaport  in  the  State 
of  Maine,  where  they  are  to  bo  placed  on  board  a  British  ves 
sel  as  quietly  as  possible  ;  and  this  exigent,  imperious,  tyran 
nical,  insulting  British  Minister  has  cheerfully  acceded  to  the 
request.  Mr.  Con  way  Seymour,  the  Queen's  messenger,  who 
brought  Lord  Russell's  despatch,  was  sent  back  with  instruc 
tions  for  the  British  Admiral,  to  send  a  vessel  to  Province- 
town  for  the  purpose  ;  and  as  Mr.  Johnson,  who  is  nearly 
connected  with  Mr.  Kustis,  one  of  the  prisoners,  proposed 
going  to  Boston  to  see  his  brother-in-law,  if  possible,  ere  he 
started,  and  as  there  was  not  the  smallest  prospect  of  any 
military  movement  taking  place,  I  resolved  to  go  northwards 
with  him  ;  and  we  left  Washington  accordingly  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  3 1st  of  December,  and  arrived  at  the  New  York 
Hotel  the  same  night. 

To  my  great  regret  and  surprise,  however,  I  learned   it 


594  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

would  be  impracticable  to  get  to  Fort  Warren  and  see  the 
prisoners  before  their  surrender.  My  unpopularity,  which 
had  lost  somewhat  of  its  intensity,  was  revived  by  the  exasper 
ation  against  everything  English,  occasioned  by  the  firmness 
of  Great  Britain  in  demanding  the  Commissioners  ;  and  on 
New  Year's  Night,  as  I  heard  subsequently,  Mr.  Grinnel  and 
other  members  of  the  New  York  Club  were  exposed  to  an 
noyance  and  insult,  by  some  of  their  brother  members,  in  con 
sequence  of  inviting  me  to  be  their  guest  at  the  club. 

The  illness  which  had  prostrated  some  of  the  strongest  mei 
in  Washington,  including  General  McClellan  himself,  developed 
itself  as  soon  as  I  ceased  to  be  sustained  by  the  excitement, 
such  as  it  was,  of  daily  events  at  the  capital,  and  by  expecta 
tions  of  a  move  ;  and  for  some  time  an  attack  of  typhoid  fever 
confined  me  to  my  room,  and  left  me  so  weak  that  I  was  ad 
vised  not  to  return  to  Washington  till  I  had  tried  change  of  air. 
I  remained  in  New  York  till  the  end  of  January,  when  I  pro 
ceeded  to  make  a  tour  in  Canada,  as  it  was  quite  impossible 
for  any  operation  to  take  place  on  the  Potomac,  where  deep 
mud,  alternating  with  snow  and  frost,  bound  the  contending 
armies  in  winter-quarters. 

On  my  return  to  New  York,  at  the  end  of  February,  the 
North  was  cheered  by  some  signal  successes  achieved  in  the 
West,  principally  by  gunboats,  operating  on  the  lines  of  the 
great  rivers.  The  greatest  results  have  been  obtained  in 
the  capture  of  Fort  Donaldson  and  Fort  Henry,  by  Commo 
dore  Foote's  flotilla  cooperating  with  the  land  forces.  The 
possession  of  an  absolute  naval  supremacy,  of  course,  gives 
the  North  United  States  powerful  means  of  annoyance  and 
inflicting  injury  and  destruction  on  the  enemy ;  it  also  secures 
for  them  the  means  of  seizing  upon  bases  of  operations  where- 
ever  they  please,  of  breaking  up  the  enemy's  lines,  and  main 
taining  communications  ;  but  the  example  of  Great  Britain  in 
the  Revolutionary  War  should  prove  to  the  United  States  that 
such  advantages  do  not,  by  any  means,  enable  a  belligerent  to 
subjugate  a  determined  people  resolved  on  resistance  to  the 
last.  The  long-threatened  encounter  between  Bragg  and 
Browne  has  taken  place  at  Pensacola,  without  effect,  and  the 
attempts  of  the  Federals  to  advance  from  Port  Royal  have 
been  successfully  resisted.  Sporadic  skirmishes  have  sprung 
up  over  every  Border  State ;  but,  on  the  whole,  success  has 
inclined  to  the  Federals  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

On  the  1st   March,  I  arrived  in  Washington  once   more, 


INTERVIEW  WITH  MR.   STANTON.  595 

and  found  things  very  much  as  I  had  left  them  :  the  army 
recovering  the  effect  of  the  winter's  sickness  and  losses,  ani 
mated  by  the  victories  of  their  comrades  in  Western  fields, 
and  by  the  hope  that  the  ever-coming  to-morrow  would  see 
them  in  the  field  at  last.  In  place  of  Mr.  Cameron,  an  Ohio 
lawyer  named  Stanton,  has  been  appointed  Secretary  of  War. 
He  came  to  Washington,  a  few  years  ago,  to  conduct  some 
legal  proceedings  for  Mr.  Daniel  Sickles,  and  by  his  energy, 
activity,  and  a  rapid  conversion  from  Democratic  to  Republi 
can  principles,  as  well  as  by  his  Union  sentiments,  recom 
mended  himself  to  the  President  and  his  Cabinet. 

The  month  of  March  passed  over  without  any  remarkable 
event  in  the  field.  When  the  army  started  at  last  to  attack 
the  enemy  —  a  movement  which  was  precipitated  by  hearing 
that  they  were  moving  away  —  they  went  out  only  to  find  the 
Confederates  had  fallen  back  by  interior  lines  towards  Rich 
mond,  and  General  McClellan  was  obliged  to  transport  his 
army  from  Alexandria  to  the  peninsula  of  Yorktown,  where 
his  reverses,  his  sufferings,  and  his  disastrous  retreat,  are  so 
well  known  and  so  recent,  that  I  need  only  mention  them  as 
among  the  most  remarkable  events  which  have  yet  occurred 
in  this  war. 

I  had  looked  forward  for  many  weary  months  to  participat 
ing  in  the  movement  and  describing  its  results.  Immediately 
on  my  arrival  in  Washington,  I  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Stan- 
ton  by  Mr.  Ashman,  formerly  member  of  Congress  and  Sec 
retary  to  Mr.  Daniel  Webster,  and  the  Secretary,  without 
making  any  positive  pledge,  used  words,  in  Mr.  Ashman's 
presence,  which  led  me  to  believe  he  would  give  me  permis 
sion  to  draw  rations,  and  undoubtedly  promised  to  afford  me 
every  facility  in  his  power.  Subsequently  he  sent  me  a  pri 
vate  pass  to  the  War  Department  to  enable  me  to  get  through 
the  crowd  of  contractors  and  jobbers ;  but  on  going  there  to 
keep  my  appointment,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  War  told 
me  Mr.  Stanton  had  been  summoned  to  a  Cabinet  Council  by 
the  President. 

We  had  some  conversation  respecting  the  subject-matter 
of  my  application,  which  the  Assistant  Secretary  seemed  to 
think  would  be  attended  with  many  difficulties,  in  consequence 
of  the  number  of  correspondents  to  the  American  papers  who 
might  demand  the  same  privileges,  and  he  intimated  to  me 
that  Mr.  Stanton  was  little  disposed  to  encourage  them  in  any 
way  whatever.  Now  this  is  undoubtedly  honest  on  Mr.  Stan- 


596  .MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

ton's  part,  for  he  knows  he  might  render  himself  popular  by 
granting  what  they  ask  ;  but  he  is  excessively  vain,  and  as 
pires  to  be  considered  a  rude,  rough,  vigorous  Oliver  Crom 
well  sort  of  man,  mistaking  some  of  the  disagreeable  attributes 
and  the  accidents  of  the  external  husk  of  the  Great  Protector 
for  the  brain  and  head  of  a  statesman  and  a  soldier. 

The  American  officers  with  whom  I  was  intimate  gave  me 
to  understand  that  I  could  accompany  them,  in  case  I  received 
permission  from  the  Government ;  but  they  were  obviously 
unwilling  to  encounter  the  abuse  and  calumny  which  would  be 
heaped  upon  their  heads  by  American  papers,  unless  they 
could  show  the  authorities  did  not  disapprove  of  my  presence 
in  their  camp.  Several  invitations  sent  to  me  were  accom 
panied  by  the  phrase,  "  You  will  of  course  get  a  written  per 
mission  from  the  War  Department,  and  then  there  will  be  no 
difficulty."  On  the  evening  of  the  private  theatricals  by  which 
Lord  Lyons  enlivened  the  ineffable  dulness  of  Washington,  I 
saw  Mr.  Stanton  at  the  Legation,  and  he  conversed  with  me 
for  some  time.  I  mentioned  the  difficulty  connected  with 
passes.  He  asked  me  what  I  wanted.  I  said,  "An  order  to 
go  with  the  army  to  Manassas."  At  his  request  I  procured  a 
sheet  of  paper,  and  he  wrote  me  a  pass,  took  a  copy  of  it,  which 
he  put  in  his  pocket,  and  then  handed  the  other  to  me.  On 
looking  at  it,  I  perceived  that  it  was  a  permission  for  me  to 
go  to  Manassas  and  back,  and  that  all  officers,  soldiers,  and 
others,  in  the  United  States  service,  were  to  give  me  every 
assistance  and  show  me  every  courtesy ;  but  the  hasty  return 
of  the  army  to  Alexandria  rendered  it  useless. 

The  Merrimac  and  Monitor  encounter  produced  the  pro- 
foundest  impression  in  Washington,  and  unusual  strictness  wasj 
observed  respecting  passes  to  Fortress  Monroe. 

March  ISth.  —  I  applied  at  the  Navy  Department  for  a 
passage  down  to  Fortress  Monroe,  as  it  was  expected  the 
Merrimac  was  coming  out  again,  but  I  could  not  obtain  leave 
to  go  in  any  of  the  vessels.  Captain  Hardman  showed  me  a 
curious  sketch  of  what  he  called  the  Turtle  Thor,  an  iron- 
cased  machine  with  a  huge  claw  or  grapnel,  with  which  to 
secure  the  enemy  whilst  a  steam  hammer  or  a  high  iron  fist, 
worked  by  the  engine,  cracks  and  smashes  her  iron  armor. 
"  For,"  says  he,  "  the  days  of  gunpowder  are  over." 

As  soon  as  General  McClellan  commenced  his  movement, 
he  sent  a  message  to  me  by  one  of  the  French  princes,  that  he 
would  have  great  pleasure  in  allowing  me  to  accompany  his 


ARRANGEMENTS  FOR  THE  CAMPAIGN.  597 

head-quarters  in  the  field.  I  find  the  following,  under  the 
head  of  March  22d :  — 

"  Received  a  letter  from  General  Marcy,  chief  of  the  staff, 
asking  me  to  call  at  his  office.  He  told  me  General  McClel- 
lan  directed  him  to  say  he  had  no  objection  whatever  to 
my  accompanying  the  army,  *  but,'  continued  General  Marcy, 
*  you  know  we  are  a  sensitive  people,  and  that  our  press  is 
exceedingly  jealous.  General  McClellan  has  many  enemies 
who  seek  to  pull  him  down,  and  scruple  at  no  means  of  doing 
so.  He  and  I  would  be  glad  to  do  anything  in  our  power  to 
help  you,  if  you  come  with  us,  but  we  must  not  expose  our 
selves  needlessly  to  attack.  The  army  is  to  move  to  the  York 
and  James  Rivers  at  once.'  " 

All  my  arrangements  were  made  that  day  with  General 
Van  Vliet,  the  quartermaster-general  of  head-quarters.  I 
was  quite  satisfied,  from  Mr.  Stanton's  promise  and  General 
Marcy's  conversation,  that  I  should  have  no  further  difficulty. 
Our  party  was  made  up,  consisting  of  Colonel  Neville ;  Lieu 
tenant-Colonel  Fletcher,  Scotch  Fusilier  Guards  ;  Mr.  Lamy, 
and  myself;  and  our  passage  was  to  be  provided  in  the  quar 
termaster-general's  boat.  On  the  26th  of  March,  I  went  to 
Baltimore  in  company  with  Colonel  Rowan,  of  the  Royal  Ar 
tillery,  who  had  come  down  for  a  few  days  to  visit  Washing 
ton,  intending  to  go  on  by  the  steamer  to  Fortress  Monroe,  as 
he  was  desirous  of  seeing  his  friends  on  board  the  Rinaldo, 
and  I  wished  to  describe  the  great  flotilla  assembled  there  and 
to  see  Captain  Hewett  once  more. 

On  arriving  at  Baltimore,  we  learned  it  would  be  necessary 
to  get  a  special  pass  from  General  Dix,  and  on  going  to  the 
General's  head-quarters  his  aide-de-camp  informed  us  that  he 
had  received  special  instructions  recently  from  the  War  De 
partment  to  grant  no  parses  to  Fortress  Monroe,  unless  to  offi 
cers  and  soldiers  going  on  duty,  or  to  persons  in  the  service 
of  the  United  States.  The  aide-de-camp  advised  me  to  tele 
graph  to  Mr.  Stanton  for  permission,  which  I  did,  but  no 
answer  was  received,  and  Colonel  Rowan  and  I  returned  to 
Washington,  thinking  there  would  be  a  better  chance  of  se 
curing  the  necessary  order  there. 

Next  day  we  went  to  the  Department  of  War,  and  were 
shown  into  Mr.  Stanton's  room  —  his  secretary  informing  us 
that  he  was  engaged  in  the  next  room  with  the  President  and 
other  Ministers  in  a  council  of  war,  but  that  he  would  no 
doubt  receive  a  letter  from  me  and  send  me  out  a  reply.  I 


HI  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH.  :\ 

accordingly  addressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Stanton,  requesting  he 
would  be  good  enough  to  give  an  order  to  Colonel  Rowan,  of 
the  British  army,  and  myself,  to  go  by  the  mail  boat  from 
Baltimore  to  Monroe.  In  a  short  time  Mr,  Stanton  sent  out 
a  note  in  the  following  words:  —  "Mr.  Stanton  informs  Mr. 
Russell  no  passes  to  Fortress  Monroe  can  be  given  at  present, 
unless  to  officers  in  the  United  States  service."  We  tried  the 
Navy  Department,  but  no  vessels  were  going  down,  they  said ; 
and  one  of  the  officers  suggested  that  we  should  ask  for  passes 
to  go  down  and  visit  H.  M,  S.  Rinaldo  exclusively,  which 
could  not  well  be  refused,  he  thought,  to  British  subjects,  and 
promised  to  take  charge  of  the  letter  for  Mr.  Stanton  and  to 
telegraph  the  permission  down  to  Baltimore.  There  we  re 
turned  by  the  afternoon  train  and  waited,  but  neither  reply 
nor  pass  came  for  us. 

Next  day  we  were  disappointed  also,  and  an  officer  of  the 
Rinaldo,  who  had  come  up  on  duty  from  the  ship,  was  refused 
permission  to  take  us  down  on  his  return,  1  regretted  these 
obstructions  principally  on  Colonel  Rowan's  account,  because 
he  would  have  no  opportunity  of  seeing  the  flotilla.  He  re 
turned  next  day  to  New  York,  whilst  I  completed  my  prep 
arations  for  the  expedition  and  went  back  to  Washington, 
where  I  received  my  pass,  signed  by  General  McClellan's 
chief  of  the  statf,  authorizing  me  to  accompany  the  head 
quarters  of  the  army  under  his  command.  So  for  as  I  know, 
Mr.  Stanton  sent  no  reply  to  my  last  letter,  and  calling  with 
General  Van  Vliet  at  his  house  on  his  reception  night,  the 
door  was  opened  by  his  brother-in-law,  who  said,  "  The  Sec 
retary  was  attending  a  sick  child  and  could  not  see  any  per 
son  that  evening,"  so  I  never  met  Mr.  Stanton  again. 

Stories  had  long  been  current  concerning  his  exceeding 
animosity  to  General  McClellan,  founded  perhaps  on  his  ex 
pressed  want  of  confidence  in  the  General's  abilities,  as  much 
as  on  the  dislike  he  felt  towards  a  man  who  persisted  in  dis 
regarding  his  opinions  on  matters  connected  with  military 
operations.  His  infirmities  of  health  and  tendency  to  cere 
bral  excitement  had  been  increased  by  the  pressure  of  busi 
ness,  by  the  novelty  of  power,  and  by  the  angry  passions  to 
which  individual  antipathies  and  personal  rancor  give  rise. 
No  one  who  ever  saw  Mr.  Stanton  would  expect  from  him 
courtesy  of  manner  or  delicacy  of  feeling ;  but  his  affectation 
of  bluntness  and  straightforwardness  of  purpose  might  have 
led  oue  to  suppose  he  was  honest  and  direct  in  purpose,  as  the 


A  PASSAGE  REFUSED.  599 

qualities  I  have  mentioned  are  not  always  put  forward  by 
hypocrites  to  cloak  finesse  and  sinister  action. 

The  rest  of  the  story  may  be  told  in  a  few  words.  It  was 
perfectly  well  known  in  Washington  that  I  was  going  with  the 
army,  and  I  presume  Mr.  Stan  ton,  if  he  had  any  curiosity 
about  such  a  trifling  matter,  must  have  heard  it  also.  I  am 
told  he  was  informed  of  it  at  the  last  moment,  and  then  flew 
out  into  a  coarse  passion  against  General  McClellan  because 
he  had  dared  to  invite  or  to  take  any  one  without  his  permis 
sion.  What  did  a  Republican  General  want  with  foreign 
princes  on  his  staff,  or  with  foreign  newspaper  correspondents 
to  puff  him  up  abroad  ? 

Judging  from  the  stealthy,  secret  way  in  which  Mr.  Stanton 
struck  at  General  McClellan  the  instant  he  had  turned  his 
back  upon  Washington,  and  crippled  him  in  the  field  by  sud 
denly  withdrawing  his  best  division  without  a  word  of  notice, 
I  am  inclined  to  fear  he  gratified  whatever  small  passion  dic 
tated  his  course  on  this  occasion  also,  by  waiting  till  he  knew 
I  was  fairly  on  board  the  steamer  with  my  friends  and  bag 
gage,  just  ready  to  move  off,  before  he  sent  down  a  despatch 
to  Van  Vliet  and  summoned  him  at  once  to  the  War  Office. 
When  Van  Vliet  returned  in  a  couple  of  hours,  he  made  the 
communication  to  me  that  Mr.  Stanton  had  given  him  written 
orders  to  prevent  my  passage,  though  even  here  he  acted  with 
all  the  cunning  and  indirection  of  the  village  attorney,  not 
with  the  straightforwardness  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  whom  it  is 
laughable  to  name  in  the  same  breath  with  his  imitator.  He 
did  not  write,  "  Mr.  Russell  is  not  to  go,"  or  "  The  '  Times ' 
correspondent  is  forbidden  a  passage,"  but  he  composed  two 
orders,  with  all  the  official  formula  of  the  War  Office,  drawn 
up  by  the  Quartermaster  General  of  the  army,  by  the  direc 
tion  and  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  No.  1  ordered  "  that 
no  person  should  be  permitted  to  embark  on  board  any  vessel 
in  the  United  States  service  without  an  order  from  the  War 
Department."  No.  2  ordered  "  that  Colonel  Neville,  Colonel 
Fletcher,  and  Captain  Lamy,  of  the  British  army,  having 
been  invited  by  General  McClellan  to  accompany  the  expedi 
tion,  were  authorized  to  embark  on  board  the  vessel." 

General  Van  Vliet  assured  me  that  he  and  General 
McDowell  had  urged  every  argument  they  could  think  of 
in  my  favor,  particularly  the  fact  that  I  was  the  specially 
invited  guest  of  General  McClellan,  and  that  I  was  actually 
provided  with  a  pass  by  his  order  from  the  chief  of  his  staff. 


600  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

With  these  orders  before  me,  I  had  no  alternative. 

General  McClellan  was  far  away.  Mr.  Stanton  had  waited 
again  until  he  was  gone.  General  Marcy  was  away.  I  laid 
the  statement  of  what  had  occurred  before  the  President,  who 
at  first  gave  me  hopes,  from  the  wording  of  his  letter,  that  he 
would  overrule  Mr.  Stanton's  order,  but  who  next  day  in 
formed  me  he  could  not  take  it  upon  himself  to  do  so. 

It  was  plain  I  had  now  but  one  course  left.  My  mission  in 
the  United  States  was  to  describe  military  events  and  opera 
tions,  or,  in  defect  of  them,  to  deal  with  such  subjects  as  might 
be  interesting  to  people  at  home.  In  the  discharge  of  my 
duty,  I  had  visited  the  South,  remaining  there  until  the  ap 
proach  of  actual  operations  and  the  establishment  of  the 
blockade,  which  cut  off  all  communication  from  the  Southern 
States  except  by  routes  which  would  deprive  my  correspond 
ence  of  any  value,  compelled  me  to  return  to  the  North,  where  I 
could  keep  up  regular  communication  with  Europe.  Soon  after 
my  return,  as  unfortunately  for  myself  as  the  United  States, 
the  Federal  troops  were  repulsed  in  an  attempt  to  march  upon 
Richmond,  and  terminated  a  disorderly  retreat  by  a  disgrace 
ful  panic.  The  whole  incidents  of  what  I  saw  were  fairly 
stated  by  an  impartial  witness,  who,  if  anything,  was  inclined 
to  favor  a  nation  endeavoring  to  suppress  a  rebellion,  and  who 
was  by  no  means  impressed,  as  the  results  of  his  recent  tour, 
with  the  admiration  and  respect  for  the  people  of  the  Confed 
erate  States  which  their  enormous  sacrifices,  extraordinary 
gallantry,  and  almost  unparalleled  devotion,  have  long  since 
extorted  from  him  in  common  with  all  the  world.  The  letter 
in  which  that  account  was  given  came  back  to  America  after 
the  first  bitterness  and  humiliation  of  defeat  had  passed,  and 
disappointment  and  alarm  had  been  succeeded  by  such  a  for 
midable  outburst  of  popular  resolve,  that  the  North  forgot 
everything  in  the  instant  anticipations  of  a  glorious  and  tri 
umphant  revenge. 

Every  feeling  of  the  American  was  hurt  —  above  all,  his 
vanity  and  his  pride,  by  the  manner  in  which  the'  account  of 
the  reverse  had  been  received  in  Europe;  and  men  whom  I 
scorned  too  deeply  to  reply  to,  dexterously  took  occasion  to  di 
rect  on  my  head  the  full  storm  of  popular  indignation.  Not, 
indeed,  that  I  had  escaped  before.  Ere  a  line  from  my  pen 
reached  America  at  all  —  ere  my  first  letter  had  crossed  the 
Atlantic  to  England  —  the  jealousy  and  hatred  felt  for  all 
things  British  —  for  press  or  principle,  or  representative  of 


MY  MISSION  ENDED.  601 

either  —  had  found  expression  in  Northern  journals  ;  but  that 
I  was  prepared  for.  I  knew  well  no  foreigner  had  ever 
penned  a  line  —  least  of  all,  no  Englishman  —  concerning  the 
United  States  of  North  America,  their  people,  manners,  and 
institutions,  who  had  not  been  treated  to  the  abuse  which  is 
supposed  by  their  journalists  to  mean  criticism,  no  matter 
what  the  justness  or  moderation  of  the  views  expressed,  the 
sincerity  of  purpose,  and  the  truthfulness  of  the  writer.  In 
the  South,  the  press  threatened  me  with  tar  and  feathers,  be 
cause  I  did  not  see  the  beauties  of  their  domestic  institution, 
and  wrote  of  it  in  my  letters  to  England  exactly  as  I  spoke 
of  it  to  every  one  who  conversed  with  me  on  the  subject  when 
I  was  amongst  them ;  and  now  the  Northern  papers  recom 
mended  expulsion,  ducking,  riding  rails,  and  other  cognate 
modes  of  insuring  a  moral  conviction  of  error  ;  endeavored  to 
intimidate  me  by  threats  of  duels  or  personal  castigations : 
gratified  their  malignity  by  ludicrous  stories  of  imaginary 
affronts  or  annoyances  to  which  I  never  was  exposed ;  and 
sought  to  prevent  the  authorities  extending  any  protection  tow 
ards  me,  and  to  intimidate  officers  from  showing  me  any  civil 
ities. 

In  pursuance  of  my  firm  resolution  I  allowed  the  slanders 
and  misrepresentations  which  poured  from  their  facile  sources 
for  months  to  pass  by  unheeded,  aad  trusted  to  the  calmer 
sense  of  the  people,  and  to  the  discrimination  of  those  who 
thought  over  the  sentiments  expressed  in  my  letters,  to  do  me 
iustice. 

I  need  not  enlarge  on  the  dangers  to  which  I  was  exposed. 
Those  who  are  acquainted  with  America,  and  know  the  life 
of  the  great  cities,  will  best  appreciate  the  position  of  a  man 
who  went  forth  daily  in  the  camps  and  streets  holding  his  life 
in  his  hand.  This  expression  of  egotism  is  all  I  shall  ask  in 
dulgence  for.  Nothing  could  have  induced  me  to  abandon  my 
post  or  to  recoil  before  my  assailants  ;  but  at  last  a  power  I 
could  not  resist  struck  me  down.  When  to  the  press  and  pop 
ulace  of  the  United  States,  the  President  and  the  Government 
of  Washington  added  their  power,  resistance  would  be  unwise 
and  impracticable.  In  no  camp  could  I  have  been  received 
—  in  no  place  useful.  I  went  to  America  to  witness  and  de 
scribe  the  operations  of  the  great  army  before  Washington  in 
the  field,  and  when  I  was  forbidden  by  the  proper  authorities 
to  do  so,  my  mission  terminated  at  once. 

On  the  evening  of  April  4th,  as  soon  as  I  was  in  receipt 
20 


602  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

of  the  President's  last  communication,  I  telegraphed  to  New 
York  to  engage  a  passage  by  the  steamer  which  left  on  the 
following  Wednesday.  Next  day  was  devoted  to  packing  up 
and  to  taking  leave  of  my  friends  —  English  and  American  — 
whose  kindnesses  I  shall  remember  in  my  heart  of  hearts,  and 
the  following  Monday  I  left  Washington,  of  which,  after  all, 
I  shall  retain  many  pleasant  memories  and  keep  souvenirs 
green  forever.  I  arrived  in  New  York  late  on  Tuesday  even 
ing,  and  next  day  I  saw  the  shores  receding  into  a  dim  gray 
fog,  and  ere  the  night  fell  was  tossing  about  once  more  on 
the  stormy  Atlantic,  with  the  head  of  our  good  ship  pointing, 
thank  Heaven,  towards  Europe. 


THE   END. 


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